Doors to Utopia
by Hymntanra
Summary: In the Temple of Time, a terrible fate falls upon the five Heroes while fighting Arkarium. He puts them under a powerful spell that seals them within their perfect dreams. The only one who can save them from their dreams is young Evan. With the help of the Time Goddess Rhinne, our little dragon master goes forth. CHAPTER ELEVEN FIXED. Bonus chapter added.
1. Dreams to Dream

**Author's Note: Since the plagiarism stuff is MOSTLY past us at this point, I'm going to tentatively be taking down the warning. Thank you. Enjoy this story. I also do not think that the explanation for it being posted here needs to be up anymore, as I am now active on this site again. **

Doors to Utopia

Chapter One

Dreams to Dream

The Temple of Time lit up with loud explosions, bright lights, and the screams from battle. An elfin woman skidded into the hall but lost her balance and slammed against one of the Roman pillars behind her. Her body slumped to the ground, arms weakly trying to hold herself up. She started slightly when she heard a slam right next to her; a woman, quite a bit taller than herself with snow white hair and dark brown skin, had been thrown next to her. She bled profusely from the forehead and her crystal eyes struggled to stay open.

"I d-don't think this is going well, Aran." Mercedes said, and then bent over to cough up blood. The pain made her feel like she was going to cough up her organs. Aran nodded halfheartedly as she tried to balance herself on her polearm; her long legs shook at the pressure that was being put on her obviously broken leg. The woman barely made it to the archway to glance at her allies with blurred eyes.

Evan was laying on his dragon for support, weakly waving his wand in the general direction of the laughing old man while Phantom lunged forward. Arkanium knocked him away easily; both of the males were far too weak at the moment to fight this general. Aran considered that perhaps this had been a foolish venture—perhaps they had not yet trained enough, that they had not fully recognized their skills again, that they had not managed to train Freud young replacement…yes, Aran was having one of those few moments when she was in regret for rushing into battle. She HAD always been headstrong.

But Mercedes, Phantom, and Evan had thought they were ready. Aran had even thought they were ready. She couldn't remember a single thing about how strong she had been back then…she had assumed she had once again taken on that strength. She had thought she achieved the pinnacle of perfection. And suddenly, so suddenly, Aran knew she hadn't and that it was too late to turn back now. She heaved herself up and dragged the elfin woman with her. Mercedes moaned pitifully but obliged as they limped back into the corridor.

Arkarium was cackling loudly as the snake men alongside him lunged at Phantom's throat. The blonde grimaced and rolled out of their grip, smacking against Mir's thick front leg. The dragon snorted as his head threatened to slam against the floor in fatigue. His master, Evan, slid off of his black scaled back to crouch next to the thief. Mir moved to become their barrier while Evan shook in fear. Aran rushed over to them and roughly sat Mercedes down in the crook of Mir's tail. She groaned in pain again.

"Phantom." Aran said steadily as she looked at the bruised thief. She didn't even have to proceed with her sentence—they both knew that this battle couldn't won. Only she and Phantom were even slightly close to be in a well enough condition to fight. Mercedes didn't seem capable of moving on her own and Evan simply wasn't strong enough. His training just wasn't complete enough. And Arkarium…the general was barely scratched.

Aran gazed above them at the only remaining ally they had; Luminous was perched on one of the thick fallen pillars glaring maliciously at Arkarium. Yes, he was in okay shape…but the bruise upon the pale skin spoke that soon he would be in just as poor of shape. He wasn't something that Aran figured they could rely on anyways—the glow in his left eye spoke of a tainted soul, one that she did not trust. She would not put her faith into this strange man. The warrior had certainly not been in contact with him as long as, say, Evan or Mercedes.

Evan himself hefted his body up to look nervously over Mir's massive back. Scratches dug into his delicate skin and blood coated his arm. It made him vaguely nauseous. The smell was overwhelming and just the idea of having this much blood on him was nauseating. He wanted to go home but at the same time he wanted to please the four people fighting alongside him. Though they didn't seem particularly fighting fit anyways. All they had between them and death's door was Mir's hulking form.

The boy flung his arm out over the dragon's back; bursts of light purple crackled above them then slammed down upon the enemy in dark pillars. It left a thick fog that Arkarium blew away with one of his snakes. The smirk on the old man's face was evident—Evan wasn't particularly known for being aggressively violent but at that moment, he had no greater desire than to punch Arkarium's face in. Not that his untrained punch would do anything. He was young and he was focused on magic. If anyone would be qualified to punch Arkarium's face in, it would be Aran, and she wasn't looking all that great at the moment.

"Will you continue to hide, my dear?" Arkarium chuckled deeply; it was a sound that send chills down their spines. "I have seen you all at much higher than this. The battle we are in…it hasn't even been hard. You have made this a cakewalk, like all arrogant fools would. I would kill you now but…you know, that simply wouldn't be any fun, would it?"

"What's he talking about…?" Mercedes breathed, coughing up blood. Evan grimaced and he could see that Phantom and Aran shared his feeling here. The elf had to be removed from this situation. She was dying. But there was no way to get her out of there. And Arkarium seemed to be going for a finishing blow anyways—Evan figured that soon, it wouldn't much matter.

But he spoke so cryptically…what was this fun he intended to have?

Evan didn't have time to think about it, as Mir was blown to the side by the hooded snake minions. The dragon extended his wings to cease his movement but could not stop himself from slamming into the pillar across the room. Phantom and Aran shot up in alarm; their barrier had been compromised. They had to move quick. Aran flung Mercedes onto her shoulder and grabbed Evan's wrist, rushing the two across the room while Phantom tried to distract the old man with flashy attacks.

Arkarium was not fooled; Phantom soon followed his fellow heroes to the corner, forced back by Arkanium's spell. Luminous soon followed, smashing against the hard stone floor with a cringe-inducing speed. If it had been anyone besides his fellow 'Heroes', Evan would have counted Luminous off as dead. But in this scenario he was not surprised to see the pale man struggle back to his feet. He was just as tough as Aran sometimes.

_But what can I do?_

Evan's mind had no time to answer him; all of the Heroes were blown off their feet to lay on the cold stone ground. The snake minions closed around them, their cackling laughs sinking down into Evan's memory forever. They cut off the routes of escape while Arkarium chanted; Evan did not know this spell. He wasn't particularly SURPRISED that he personally did not know the spell—but it was not one they had seen Arkarium use before.

And that was never, ever a good thing.

Evan couldn't move despite his fear of this new spell. He lay, motionless, as the spell washed over them. Laying on his side he could see Aran struggling to stand. But when Arkarium's spell hit her, the warrior's face went blank and she collapsed to the ground motionless. Phantom, who lay right in front of him, had glassy and empty eyes and a blank expression. Evan cringed; he could feel the spell washing over his body yet…felt nothing at the same time.

A blinding, painful light erupted.

And then everything went black.

Evan awoke to a cool rag on his forehead. He could feel warm blankets over his feverish body and he could hear a sweet female voice humming lullabies—humming healing spells. He cracked open one blue eye to peer up at the blonde woman. The Goddess of Time, Rhinne, was sitting beside him humming a tune and caring for his injuries. Evan supposed he had encountered weird scenarios.

"Good morning, Evan." She said quietly. "I'm glad you have woken. We have something of utmost importance that we must discuss."

"Where is everyone?" He said immediately. "Mercedes, she needed help more than me. She was dying! And Aran, her leg…I think it was broken…Luminous hit the floor pretty badly too! And Phantom…bruised all over! They need medical attention! Where are they?!"

"Relax yourself, boy." Rhinne said sharply. "There isn't anything we can do to help your friends right now. I have done all I can. Their bodies, though likely sore, are in tip top shape."

"So they're going to be fine?!" Evan exclaimed excitedly. Rhinne looked to the side nervously and Evan's face fell. "What…what's going on, Miss Rhinne…?"

"There was a…there was a problem." Rhinne faltered. All she could truly do was gesture behind her. Evan stumbled to his feet to stare, wide eyed, at the comatose forms of the four other Heroes. They looked pale, almost ghostly. Rhinne nearly read the boy's mind immediately. "They aren't dead. Don't worry. You…have much bigger things to worry about, unfortunately."

"What's wrong with them?!" Evan shrieked, panicked. He flung himself down by Aran and shook her shoulder violently as he trembled uncontrollable. The woman's head just flopped around listlessly. The boy raised his terrified eyes to inspect the other three, clambering over to Phantom to pull at his arm. The arm slipped from his thin fingers with ease. The body seemed almost dead; all of the Heroes looked deceased. Evan's eyes were quickly filling with fat tears as Rhinne rested her hand on his shoulder.

"Evan."

"What's wrong with them?!" He screamed, turned around to the Goddess. The floating woman held him still by the shoulders, running her fingers through his brown hair in a calming motion. No matter how nice it felt…Evan did not feel any happier. "Please…tell me what's going on! They…they look DEAD but you said they weren't…how is that, huh?"

"As I said, sweetheart. They aren't dead." Rhinne said sadly. "They have been forced into a deep, possessed coma by Arkarium."

"W…what…?"

"He cast a spell. I'm quite sure that he came today with the intention to cast this specific spell. It was a trap." Rhinne held the crying child against her bosom as he sobbed softly; Evan didn't want to be the only 'hero' left. He knew he wasn't strong enough. "Arkanium knew he couldn't beat the Heroes so easily…you five always had something up your sleeve that brought him down. But he has also spent the last three hundred years developing devastating new techniques. I have already examined them…and it is a very powerful, very dangerous spell he put them under. It is very lucky they suffered this spell in the Temple of Time."

"W-what…?"

"The spell they have been placed under is a sort of elaborate sleep spell." Rhinne elaborated. "Each of them have been captured in a dream that the spell convinces them to be real—their perfect world that they would never want to leave for anything. Arkanium's spell has lulled them into a sense of ease and trapped them within the one cage they cannot possibly escape. Themselves."

"Buh…but if they can't escape…" Evan stuttered weakly. Rhinne shook her head.

"It indeed is a difficult situation to ramify." She sighed deeply. "I fear there is only one way to fix it, and I'm not even entirely sure if it will work. And it could end up being very dangerous. Dreams in themselves can be horrendous burdens on even the minds of the individuals who own them. For a person who is not the creator of the dream…it could lash out on them…"

"What are you talking about?" Evan asked, clearly bemused.

"There is only one way to fix this, Evan." She tucked a tuff of brown hair behind his ear. "You will have to help them, Evan."

"But I can't do that!"

"Oh, but you can." Rhinne said softly. "You are the only one completely aware of the situation. You are the only one in a position to save your allies. You are the only one who can drag Aran, Mercedes, Luminous, and Phantom out of their dreamworlds and back into OUR world—if you don't, I'm afraid our world will be left without them forever. They shall not die, as time is stagnant in the Temple of Time, but they will be completely useless. They will be trapped within themselves. Trapped in their fantasies, forever."

"That's…horrible." Evan said slowly. "But, Rhinne?"

"Yes?"

"Why didn't the spell work on me?"

Rhinne laughed bitterly. "Oh, Evan. You are young. A child of thirteen, nothing more. Children don't have a fully developed idea of a perfect life. They want so many different things at once and have not yet fully recognized their true desires in life. You are underdeveloped in mind." Evan scrunched up his nose in distaste. "I don't mean that in a cruel way. It simply is reality—children don't know what they truly want, not yet. They will convince themselves they will…but it very rarely survives to adulthood. Do you understand?"

"Not really."

"No, I figured you wouldn't." Rhinne smiled softly. "You'll get it one day. Let's just leave it at this: the spell can't affect you because you are a child. And that is where your responsibility to your allies comes in…your responsibility to your FRIENDS. You must help them, Evan. Will you do it?"

"…Y-yes." He said nervously. "But what do I have to do?"

"Evan." She kneeled down next to the boy. "You must do what reality and time tells you that you cannot do. You MUST invade their consciousness and infiltrate their dream world. Once you get in, you MUST find a way to break that dream world apart. Talk to them, break their lie apart, bring them back to the harsh reality."

"That sounds so mean…"

"It is mean. But reality is mean." Rhinne said quietly. "They are adults and they must accept reality. As must you, despite your age…you have been thrown into adult responsibility very early. But you MUST do this…no one else can. Your dreams are young and disoriented and cannot be manipulated like the other four dreams can. Even I cannot substitute. I cannot fool the dreamworld. But with my powers and the force of this Temple we stand in, you can invade their dreams."

Evan was silent, looking at his hands. He knew very well that he didn't know his fellow heroes very well. He didn't know much about their hopes, aspirations, driving points, or even their pasts. He didn't know if he could do this. But…if Miss Rhinne was to be believed, only he could do this. Because of his age. Sure, he didn't really understand it, but he didn't suppose he had to. He nodded slowly and Rhinne smiled.

"I know this is difficult, Evan, but…" She paused. "…well, I'm happy you have the bravery to help these four. This bravery is always a good predication of how good you'll be at being a 'hero' in your future. But that isn't important."

"What is?"

"What is…is going to the dreamworld. Come with me."

TBC~


	2. Path of Snow

Doors To Utopia

Chapter Two

Path of Snow

"Back two years ago, Arkarium cast a horrible spell upon a portion of the Temple." Rhinne's voice echoed off the crisp green and white marble trim. She held Evan's hand within her own; he dismally noticed that his was so small that her fingers could encase the entire hand. The boy was so small; it just further pushed him into believing that he couldn't help this situation. But he listened to Rhinne anyways. "He created an illusion—a dream world in which Empress Cygnus had been possessed by the Black Mage and the world had fallen to the Blackwings. It was a perfect illusion. Everyone who walked into it was convinced it was reality, not a dream."

"That's horrible. It sounds more like a nightmare."

"It was. People died because of it." Evan quirked an eyebrow; they died because of a dream? That seemed unlikely. His mother had always said that he couldn't do such a thing. "It sounds irrational, I know, but recall that these are technically ILLUSIONS. Just illusions that feed off your hopes and dreams…as well as your woes and fears. As they are technically spells—powerful ones—they can actually hurt you. These dream worlds are genuinely dangerous."

"And I'm still going in?" Rhinne smiled, but looks troubled.

"I'm not comfortable with it either, Evan. But as I said…you don't have a choice anymore." Rhinne pushed him gently into a circular room. Looking about, he saw rows upon rows of elegantly carved doors; they moved around slowly and faded behind each other. Some disappeared entirely. There had to be millions. Evan didn't even know the Temple of Time was big enough to hold this sort of place. He then looked upon four doors sitting solidly in the middle of the room; they were tightly gripping the marble floor and had eerie auras that chilled Evan's soul. Pushing away from Rhinne, he tightened his grip to Mir's snout instead.

"What is this place?"

"It is the place where all dreams intersect." Rhinne replied. She gestured around, a sweeping motion to display the sparkling, hazy atmosphere so familiar to…Evan started. It was familiar to the haziness of his dream. Except it was far more powerful, it was far more weighty upon his mind. He could almost feel himself falling to sleep until Rhinne smacked the back of his head and smiled apologetically. "I am sorry, Evan, but you cannot fall asleep here. It's risky, and you have a job to do."

The brunette directed his gaze to the middle of the room; the creeping aura of the four doors kept directing his gaze straight back to them. "T…those are the doors, aren't they? I mean…Arkarium's illusions. Uhm…where my friends are."

"Yes. He has taken hold of this hallway. It troubles me, really." Rhinne frowned. "Last time he did not get this far into the sanctuary of dreams. He has grown in power and further surpassed our barriers—this place is far more dangerous to tamper with. I dread the idea of him being in here and manipulating the energies here. And unfortunately, that seems to be what he has done to your allies."

"Can you do anything about this?"

Rhinne sighed. "Not at the moment. At one time, I suppose I could have, but…my energy was badly drained in the effort to seal the Black Mage. I know it was for the best, but it took so much out of me…no, I can't do anything. Really, at this point, you and your allies are the only people who can do anything about Arkarium and the Blackwings. The only people who can fight against the Black Mage, and against the power that has been presented."

"But…I don't really have my own individual magic." Evan admitted. Despite his words, he stepped forward to run his hands down one of the eerie doors; it was morbidly entrancing. Gazing across them, he saw symbols on each door. A rough, crackling heart flanked by wolves, a slew of roman-esque triangles and grape-vines, a vivid raven symbol, and a pair of wings with different colors. On the furthest end, he saw the crumbled remains of a fifth door. Evan shivered when he realized that door was likely intended for him.

Rhinne took his arm and pulled him over to the door on the far left. It was the one with the carved heart and wolves. Evan stared at it; when he reached out to touch it, he felt a chilling wind that rushed through his blood. His fingers withdrew like they had been burned. Rhinne laughed bitterly and touched the door herself. She didn't as much as flinch; the woman had dealt with far worse in her lifetime.

"This door is the dream world of the strongest warrior in recorded history." Rhinne explained. Evan didn't say a word. "She was renowned. She had everything, and used her all to fight against an oncoming force that could easily destroy the entire world. And yet she does not have a single memory from those long past times. It seems like it would be a very unpleasant life to lead, doesn't it?"

"I think Aran is usually a little sad. She doesn't like to show it, though." Evan replied quietly. "I…figured it was because of the memories thing…"

"Correct. Aran is a very stoic woman and a very strong woman with a strong will…and a strong desire for her 'perfect dream world'." Rhinne explained. Evan listened obediently. "Aran's primary wish in life is to be free of her curse. To have her memories. In a way, she wishes to return to the past because that's where she truly existed. In this modern day, she's merely the ashes of the mighty warrior of old. She is literally nothing but a shadow of a long lost and erased memory. Nothing exists to tell her who she is, why she exists, how she became powerful, and why she fights for what she does."

"That's…kind of sad…"

"It's very sad, child." Rhinne squeezed Evan's shoulders. "But…you shall go to Aran first. Her dream…it will be the least powerful. Her desire is strong but the illusion won't be as powerful because Aran does not believe her own mind anymore. She doesn't trust herself. You must make Aran trust YOU over her illusionary dreams. Do you think you can do that for me, Evan?"

"I…I…" Evan faltered. "I don't have a choice."

"I'm afraid not, child." Rhinne took his face in her hands, nails ghosting over the slightly tanned skin. Evan looked up at her curiously and the goddess placed a kiss on his forehead. "To you, I give the luck of the Goddess and the power of Time. Take my journey, and be blessed with my power…do not lose yourself. I will guide you as well as I can, which unfortunately will not be as much as I would hope to."

"What…?" Evan gasped when he felt something small on his head. It felt like small, bare feet. Rhinne plucked the miniature woman off of Evan's forehead and presented her to the boy. He held out his hands to let the little creature patter onto his palms; she was a small, winged representation of Rhinne with much shorter hair and a robust physique. She held a large hourglass in her tiny fingers and smiled brightly. "Who are you?!"

"Her name is Kairos." Rhinne explained. "She is a portion of my spirit and my magic embodied into a compact size. She has no hope or aspirations, just instructions and base knowledge. Kairos will be going into the dreams with you, for I cannot. She will act as a sort of guide and companion—remember, you must go unnoticed, so…" Rhinne smiled weakly. "…the dragon must stay here, I'm afraid."

"What?! No! Mir comes!" Evan yelled.

"NO, Evan. He cannot. It is hard enough to infiltrate a dream with one person. Two conscious beings would result in the dream actively recognizing your presence and pursuing you." Rhinne said sternly. Evan shrunk back. "Kairos can go with you because she has an almost invisible presence—she doesn't have even the slightest dream or aspirations so the illusion can't notice her. You will go detected, of course, but you are smaller and less threatening. Mir is large, noticeable, and proposes a clear threat to the illusion. The dragon STAYS HERE."

"B…but Mir…" Evan protested weakly. Kairos climbed onto his shoulder and patted his cheek comfortingly. "Mir's part of me…"

Mir pushed his snout against Evan's face with a bitter smile. "I'll stay, Miss Rhinne."

"What a good beast you are." Rhinne crouched down next to Mir's snout and leaned on his beak. "You can stay here with me. We shall have fascinating discussions, I'm sure. I wonder if you are as bright as Afrien was? I loved that dragon, he was such a DELIGHT to be around."

"Miss Rhinne…" Evan said uncomfortably.

"Oh? Oh. Yes, of course. Kairos, lead him into the door." Kairos pulled Evan's hair gently and gestured towards Aran's freezing door. The boy hesitantly walked up to the door; idly, he peered around it to see nothing but air. Evan supposed that was a given. This was not ordinary place, and thusly it made absolutely no sense to him. But at this point in time he just had to go with the flow.

Slowly, he reached out and turned the stone knob of the ancient stone door.

The cold wind hit him like a slap in the face. Evan was immediately knocked to the ground. But instead of hitting the hard marble stone of the Temple, he found himself buried to the torso in pure white now. With a shriek, he jumped to his feet to hug his body; it was freezing here. The boy looked around frantically until Kairos tugged his hair again. This time, the little goddess seemed rather impatient.

"There." She said. Her voice was high, but sweet as honey. It was surprisingly soothing; Evan assumed Rhinne had intended this to be so. Slowly, he broke from his thoughts to look beyond the blizzard that was gathering around him. It had struck so SUDDENLY, like nature itself was trying to fight against the boy.

_That might be it. Rhinne did warn me that I wouldn't be welcomed._

_ …Ah well._

Evan trudged unhappily up the hill as he rubbed his arms with his hands. If he hadn't been constantly reminding himself that this was an illusion, than the boy would have been completely MISERABLE. But he perked up quickly as Kairos pointed out lights in the distance—the closer he got, the warmer he felt. Evan didn't care what was over there; the canopy of huge trees and the lessening flow of snow were too welcoming. He broke into the clearing with a gasp to gaze around.

There were slews of people with tanned skin and hair of many colors—all colors, colors that Evan didn't even know could exist in hair. They all wore surprisingly minimal clothing despite the weather—he assumed that the large bonfire was their solution. Various constructs littered the mounds of snow behind them as they ate and partied. Evan smiled warmly; this was a party? He didn't know stoic Aran would have ever been okay with festivals and parties. They seemed too…frivolous for her. Then again, Evan didn't really know anything about how Aran probably really was.

And there she was, sitting in a large chair.

She didn't look like the woman that Evan was used to seeing, though. Aran seemed tiny—she had shrunken to the form of a child with short trimmed white hair, free of her gifted feminine assets and tremendous height. Next to her sat a boy with similar white hair, loosely falling around his aqua eyes. Both of them looked extremely bored. Evan remembered briefly that Mercedes had mentioned Aran having a twin brother that often was training. Not that Aran did anything else herself…

Evan strode into the crowd and ignored the looks he was receiving. He looked odd among these people. They were all dark in tone and looked at him like he was an abnormality. Among them, he probably was—a pale snow child. Evan figured he looked like a ghost or something akin to that. Aran's youthful blue eyes had narrowed in on him and she watched as he approached with Kairos in tow. The closer he got, the younger she looked. The white haired, tan girl couldn't be older than five.

_But why?_

"Who're you?" She demanded, smacking her hand on the arm of her throne. The twin next to her nodded affirmatively. Evan raised a brow at both of them; this was not like Aran at all. She didn't act so immaturely. Then again, she usually wasn't four foot three either. He figured it was some effect of the illusion. But why a child…?

"My name is Evan." He announced, holding out his arms. Kairos giggled and copied him. "I come from…uh, a foreign place very different from here. I came to…uh, explore your traditions and culture?"

Aran stared at him calculatingly; he could tell that under that child form, her brash base intelligence still remained. She still knew how to be suspicious, even towards another child. But to Evan's advantage, she nodded slowly and raised her hand. All the adults went silent and backed away from her. Evan shuddered a bit; who knew what she could do? Even as a child, Aran had a threatening aura about her…

"What do you want to know, weird kid." Aran's voice was crisp now; her mature adult side was shining through. Evan could hear the real woman under the child form. He still couldn't figure out why she had shrunken, but…at least she wasn't going to try and KILL him. That had been one of his foremost fears when it came to Aran—she was powerful and could injure the most powerful man with the flick of her finger.

"I said my name is Evan. And I said I came here to learn about your culture." Aran snorted at Evan's words, then leaned over to her twin's seat and smacked his arms a few times. Evan was surprised; Aran apparently had a bit more power than her twin brother.

"Get away, Arrian!" She snapped irately. The boy stuck out his tongue but obeyed as he slinked over to a crowd of children. They were decorated in jewels and showed signs of prosperity, but seemed to not have high standing over Aran's twin. They immediately seemed to float into a follower pattern. "Hey weird kid! Come on and sit in Arrian's seat a'fore I change my mind and kick you out!"

Evan obediently sat down next to Aran and she smiled broadly. "So. What do you want to know, weird kid?"

"Ah, uhm…it's…uhm, it's Evan." He mumbled. "I..I guess I was kind of wondering why you're so young now."

"Now?"

"Just…why you're so young? You seem to have a lot of say over these people." Evan said hurriedly. Aran went quiet for a second, kicking her chubby legs back and forth against the hard wood throne. "Aran?"

"Dunno how you know my name." She said sharply. "Never introduced myself. But anyways, I have say over these people because my mother and father left for a little while. They left me in charge."

"They left…a five year old in charge…?"

"Children are very sacred and holy in our tribe. They are treated with utmost respect. Since I am the child of the real chiefs, I get more special treatment." Aran shrugged. "I didn't ask for it. I just want to learn how to use the weapons. They never let me touch the polearms. But I'll manage it someday, I think."

"So…children are…special here?"

"Mm hmm…in our world, mature life begins at age three…" Aran tossed an odd looking black fruit into her mouth. "Childhood is where memories truly begin. It's where we all really go back to for comfort…"

_Childhood is where memories truly begin._

And suddenly, it all made sense to Evan.


	3. Disruptions in the Flow

Door to Utopia

Chapter Three

Disruptions in the Flow

"Hey! Weirdo!" Evan groaned as he felt a hand shaking at his shoulder. The brunette boy rolled over and batted half heartedly at the fingers gripping his shoulders tightly. He was not well received; Evan felt himself yanked fully in the air by the scruff of his pajama top. The child cringed as he was dragged outside into the piercing sun. The hand, tan and calloused, dropped him roughly into the dirt. "You've already overslept an hour and a half, weirdo! Get your sorry ass up!"

"Who the heck are you?" Evan grumbled. Kairos had already crawled out from inside his shirt, staring at the individual in front of them. Evan rubbed his eyes irately and then looked up in shock. "ARAN?!"

The boy was shocked at what he saw, for most certain. Aran, who had just been a simple little child the night before, now stood at his own height with his weight shifted to one side. Bumps of feminine growth poked at her white training outfit. The long hair that had adorned the child's head had been chopped off into a short, boyish cut. In her hand she held one of the weapons she had last night desired to wield. Evan wasn't looking at the child from last night; in front of him stood a girl around his age and she was not looking very happy with him.

"W-what…Aran, you got bigger!" Evan stuttered. She rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"If that's supposed to be some sort of height joke…" She sounded stern but helped the pale child to his feet. Evan examined her quickly; sure enough, she had already surpassed him in height. And she couldn't be older than TWELVE. This woman had been DESTINED to be a giant. "Whatever. The teacher told me to come pick your sorry ass out of bed to get you to training. Just because you suck doesn't mean you don't get to come to training."

"U-uh…what training…?"

"Uhm…stupid. You started training with our people a long time ago." She cocked her eyebrow a bit. "About the same time me and Arrian started, actually. Late bloomer, I guess. Now hurry up, Arrian's looking for an ass to kick. And I'm definitely not going to be going easy on you today, what with the sleeping in."

Evan gulped. He had no idea what Aran was talking about. He had started training with Aran's people? Since when? He couldn't remember any such thing. The boy looked hopelessly to Kairos for an explanation. The doll was currently stuffing a piece of egg in her mouth—Evan had no idea where she had got it, but watching the egg yolk smear on her tiny face was absolutely disgusting.

"Kairos!" He hissed. The tiny woman looked up from her egg in annoyance. "You wanna clue me in on what's going on?!'

"Maybe it not obvious to stupid boy." Kairos said indifferently.

"Kairos! I need your help here!"

"Kairos doesn't know." She shrugged as she bit back into her food. "But if you really wanted a guess on what's going on, I'd say your presence within Aran's 'memories' has caused a disruption in her timeline. By showing up in Aran's childhood, you permanently engrained yourself into her false memories. You've established yourself as an invasive presence—Aran is running quickly through her memories and because she didn't have time to rid of you, the dream simply wrote you into the script."

"S-so…she thinks that I'm part of her past now…?"

"Probably." Kairos stuck the last of the egg into her mouth and proceeded to lick the yellow substance off her fingers. "From what she said, I'm going to assume that after the night you wandered in…you somehow gained 'acceptance' among her people, and become a permanent note within her life. You stayed along here, and began to follow the schedule that she had with her brother. Sort of like a dopey third wheel."

"So even in fantasy land I'm a third wheel?" Evan groaned.

"I guess. I don't know much about you." Kairos shrugged. "That's not what matters, is it? You have to find a way to dig into her psyche. You have to find a way to break the dream."

"HEY! YOU! Hurry up!" Aran bellowed. Evan started when he realized he had fallen some ways behind her; Kairos slithered back into his shirt as the boy ran back to the tan girl. She smiled, almost smugly, when he caught up. "Lord. You're awfully inept sometimes. Always have been."

"…Have I?" Evan asked suspiciously.

"Um, yes? You don't remember all those times you messed up at practice?" Aran chuckled and grabbed his shoulder to speed the boy up. "I think the best HAD to be when you accidentally took Abuu's polearm. That thing is twice your size, even now! You almost fell over while using it but just wouldn't try to give up. It was funny as hell. Don't you remember?"

"I…" Evan faltered. What the hell was he even supposed to say? He didn't know what the tan woman was talking about; all these memories that he was supposedly part of DIDN'T EXIST. At least not in Evan's world. But Aran looked like she wanted an answer; the look in her eyes was almost…hopeful.

_She's fishing for confirmation of her memories._

"Y-yeah. I remember." Evan said lamely. Aran smirked and laughed jovially.

"Yeah, that was a good day. Well, you seem like you're going to be slow today so I'm just gonna hop on ahead." Aran chuckled and took off, shouting from over her shoulder. "Don't just skip, weirdo!"

"…Yeah. Okay." Evan said weakly. His knees felt like they were going to collapse; this was just too confusing.

"You should not have said yes, you know." Kairos peeked up from under his collar and the boy raised a brow in question. "She is looking for confirmation and you know it. Giving her more confirmation just dives her deeper into her fantasy. Saying 'yes' makes her believe it's real because that means someone else experienced it. So it MUST be real."

"…But she was fishing to begin with." It dawned on Evan quickly. "That means she isn't entirely fooled. Something about this is making her suspicious. She doesn't trust these fake memories to their full extent."

"A perfect crack to chip away at, dear boy." Kairos yawned; she seemed almost bored. At least she was mildly helpful. Otherwise, Evan would have tossed the little doll ages ago. She was annoying. "By the way, did you notice?"

"Notice what?"

"Heh. Surprised you missed it, 'weirdo'. Surprised you missed it, 'you'." Kairos was implying something, but Evan wasn't quite catching her meaning. "Think about it, Evan…she never called you by name. She always called you by an insult name or just plain out 'you'. Because you don't actually exist in her memories; the only day she actually experienced with you was 'yesterday'. Everything else is fabricated. And remembering names can be difficult—but you don't forget the name of someone you've known for such a long time, now do you? Especially not when they are around every day…"

"So…" Evan perked up a bit. "I'M the crack. I'm the thing that chips at her memories and…"

"…and the one thing that can break this apart completely—the one thing that never belonged in the first place. You mimic a place in this world that doesn't actually exist and subconsciously, she already knows this." Kairos yawned again. "I shall leave it for you to decide. I must sleep now—this body wastes energy very quickly."

"Wha…KAIROS!" Evan shrieked, pulling his collar out. But the fairy had already curled up in an inner pocket. The boy groaned; great, now she couldn't even help.

"Talking to your imaginary friend, kid?" Evan looked up sharply to the form of Aran's twin. The boy roughly pushed Evan towards the training room. "Come now. You have class to get to. Don't tell me that you made my sister, the daughter of a chieftain, jog all the way over to camp just so that you could sit here talking to your imaginary friends."

"Uh…right. Uhm…Arrian." The name finally popped into Evan's mind as he strolled over to the cracked double doors into the dojo. Evan couldn't say that he knew much about Aran's twin brother; he didn't exist in Evan's real world. The boy knew that if Arrian had truly existed than he was long gone by now. Evan would never truly encounter the person speaking to him. It was an oddly surreal experience.

"You okay? You're spacing out, kid." Arrian slapped the boy roughly on the back and Evan winced. Just like his sister, Arrian clearly did not know his own strength. Or at least, didn't know how it affected a small magician. "Aran's over there working with the Mu Lung transfers. You wanna go over there or do you want to go do spear practice?"

"I'll go over with Aran." Evan said immediately. He was quite sure it would be a bad idea to let the girl out of his sight for even a second; the dream would try to take over; it might even threaten to boot Evan out of these memories. Arrian raised a brow at his choice but relented as he swung his practice spear over his shoulder.

"Alright. Just remember, that's my twin sister. I'll beat you up if you hurt her." Arrian paused to examine the boy. "…Although I doubt your pasty, skinny ass could manage it. I'll see you later, kid."

"…Tch, what a jerk." Evan sulked as he walked over to the tan girl. Aran was finishing tying her black belt and he sighed; twelve AND a black belt? The boy had to admit he felt a little humbled; then again, the Heroes ALWAYS made him feel humbled. He was nowhere near this impressive most of the time. She turned to him and put up her fists.

"Come on." She gestured for the boy to come at her. Evan shuddered and backed away. Aran rolled her eyes. "Come ON, weirdo. You are not going to learn if you just stand there like a sissy. Come at me!"

"Alright…" Evan mumbled. He shifted and tried to mimic Aran's pose; all he managed to do was feel awkward. He didn't even have a belt, for God's sake. The tan girl lunged at him so suddenly that it made the brunette dash to the side; she skidded around on her heels to face him again. One fist shot out to hit his shoulder. Evan was surprised to find his own arm shooting out to smack her fist away. Then he felt himself move forward to smack against HER shoulder. Aran recoiled away quickly and snickered slightly.

"So were you training outside of class, weirdo?" Aran said as she slid back into position to lunge at the other student. Evan had no idea how he was doing it, honestly; he figured that the dream was doing it for him. Not that he felt stronger. That was reserved for Aran. Evan seemed to be going on speed alone. Apparently Aran's dreamworld required that he be weaker than herself. It seemed a bit vain to him, but he figured it WAS her ideal world. Of course she'd be the strongest in her utopia.

The brunette dodged quickly to the side to deliver a chop to the side of her neck. Aran fell to the side but quickly skipped to her feet. Evan was kind of surprised at himself. Whatever this dream was giving him, he sure as hell liked it. He knew that in the long run, he was going to lose, but it was nice to pose a challenge to a person who was completely out of his fighting league in the real world. And she seemed to enjoy having a challenge, no matter how false it was. Aran lunged forward to land a firm punch on his chest. The sheer force sent Evan flying backwards.

"Ha! Gotcha, weirdo!" Aran said triumphantly. Evan grimaced, rubbing the wound. It hurt pretty sharply but it was fading quickly. It was fairly obvious that she had intended no long term hurt. Evan wondered briefly how he'd be if she WASN'T holding back. Probably with three broken ribs. Aran was a formidable enemy even at twelve years old and from the way she was hopping back and forth, he figured the warrior girl knew it.

Despite her joy and smug victory, the tan girl reached out to help him up. "You did good anyways, weirdo. You've definitely gotten a lot better. You actually made the match last longer than five seconds for once!"

"…Hey, Aran…"

"Hmm? What is it, bucko?" She leaned down next to the brunette, eyes flickering with concern. "Are you okay? Shit, did I hit you too hard? I can call Shi Long if you need to be checked out."

"Huh? Oh, no. I was just kind of wondering something. I mean, if I could ask you a question." Evan babbled. Aran raised a brow curiously. "I mean, if it's not too rude…I don't really want to make you mad, but it's important."

"…What is it?" She seemed genuinely confused now.

"…What's my name, Aran?"


	4. In a Name

Doors to Utopia

Chapter Four

In a Name

Aran stared at him, blue-green eyes filled with confusion. Her hand, which had been previous extended out to help the brunette boy at her feet, had gone slack. Evan hesitantly jostled the outstretched limb but received no response. The warrior girl's eyes seemed to be glossing over—Evan couldn't figure out if this was good or bad. She COULD be remembering something…but at the same time, she could also be angry or injured. He flinched when Aran shook off his hand and placed it on her forehead.

"Uhm…I…I think we oughta go inside…now…" Aran's voice was weak and unconvincing. "It's, uh, too hot out here…I think I might be…"

With that, the girl collapsed at his feet with her eyes completely glossed over and empty. Evan shrieked slightly and jostled her side. Three of the training instructors had flew over to them immediately, pushing the child away from the tan girl to check her vitals. The boy sat there uncomfortably; had he done something THIS wrong? The teachers seemed very distressed. But he felt a tiny hand on his neck, patting him for comfort. Kairos sat at his collar quietly as they both watched the scene.

"You did good. You challenged her dream." Kairos mumbled. "But watch out—the dream might get more aggressive from here on out."

"Aggressive? How?"

"You'll see…" Kairos said. Her tone sounded unsure and uncomfortable. The boy poked her head irately. "Evan! Stop that. I don't really know, okay? It could be anything."

"Whole lot of help you are." Evan groaned.

"I'm just trying to help by warning you. That's the best I can do right now." Kairos whined, clearly offended. Evan sighed and patted her head with one finger. The little goddess was right. He was getting carried away and frustrated. Stuffing her head back down into his shirt, the boy followed briskly after the teachers that were hauling his now youthful ally off. They carried the girl off to the side into a hut. Two men stood in front of it with spears, but moved away when they saw the unconscious white haired girl.

"What happened here?" One demanded.

"We're not sure. Perhaps heat stroke." The teacher replied as he dragged the girl inside. Evan made to follow but he was greeted by a spear at this throat.

"This is Aran's quarters! You are not allowed in here."

"Buh…but…she's my friend…" Evan stammered. The guard was having none of it; he even jabbed forward a bit to scrape at the pale skin of his neck. The young magician jerked back to sit against the hut wall; the guards didn't seem to have a problem with him just SITTING there, after all. Evan felt his eyelids falling. The day had been eventful and he could feel himself falling into a deep sleep.

Hours later, the guards jostled him awake. Evan was surprised that a time skip apparently had not happened. Apparently one memory needed to be completed before they could move on to the next arena. Slowly, he hobbled to his feet to stare lamely at the bulking guard and his menacing spear. The man simply grunted and shot a thumb in the direction of the door. Evan raised a brow.

"She requests we allow you in."

"She's awake?"

"What do you think, numbnuts?" The guard said sarcastically. He was clearly bitter; Evan figured he had been punished for not allowing the dragon master in when he first asked. "Go on, go say hi. Aran isn't a patient girl and she isn't going to just sit in there forever waiting. Get going before she comes and drags you in."

"Yes sir." Evan said, hurrying past the two guards into the wooden hut. They glanced at each other and shrugged, returning to their posts with their spears crossed over the doorway. Inside, Aran was sitting up in her bed and looking out the window with forlorn eyes. The boy approached her cautiously and quietly but Aran's blue-green eyes immediately snapped over to him. A trained warrior with a trained ear, Evan supposed. He slackened slightly and sat down nervously in a chair next to her bed.

"Hey, Aran. How are you doing?"

"…Fine." He voice insinuated she felt anything but.

"Was it a heat stroke?"

"That's what they're calling it."

"…Is it really something other than that?" Evan dared. Aran looked at him, eyes full of judgment, before she laughed weakly. The warrior girl knew there was no point in evading the obvious; it hadn't even been that hot today.

"You shocked me a bit…I don't think I've ever fainted from shock before, but it was like a powerful force overloaded my mind and took over." Aran said slowly. Evan perked up; she was becoming more aware of her false reality. "It was like I had no CHOICE but to pass out. Like I was POSSESSED or something. But I don't think I'm actually possessed, do you?"

"…Not really." Evan said. He didn't really know if what Aran was going through could really be considered possession. It certainly was supernatural, though. "Something else happened. Maybe you're trying to block out the obvious?"

"Block out the obvious…" Aran tapped her head lightly. "…You know, I really can't remember your name. I feel like you told me it before, many times, but outside of my past. Like…somewhere beyond this place. But that'd be impossible—even if I did know you in the future, I still wouldn't be able to recognize you or know your name."

"What if the past and present became one?"

"That's absolutely ridiculous, Evan." Aran paused then smiled. "That's right! You're Evan. The kid who…who did something…"

"And…?" Evan pressed.

"Who…something about a different person, a person I can't really remember…" Aran was obviously hammering herself hard for information that was being hidden behind a tough mental wall. "He was…he wasn't tall, wasn't short…had hair like yours…but I didn't know him too well. But…he was smart…?"

_She must be talking about that guy. Freud, I think._ Evan thought. _It's a step forward, at the very least. Although I doubt she's going to remember much more…but remembering the name of who I replaced is a good start!_

"Don't get cocky…" Kairos mumbled from inside his shirt. "The dream still has full control here, don't you forget that…"

"Still, we've been friends for some time. That I know. I guess it doesn't matter how we became friends." Aran replied. Evan paused; Aran had never referred to him as a friend before. In fact, she had made it clear outside of this dream that she didn't want anything to do with the young dragon master. But within this dream, she was a tween interacting with another tween. The age gap had been deleted; the misunderstandings provided by it had been closed.

"How come I have memories of you?" Aran piped up. Evan shrugged. "I see all these memories of you and my brother and all these people…but they seem so off from what it all was."

"Memory can be like that. Things get hazy, ya stop rememberin' right."

Aran's eyebrows rose. "What was that?"

"What was what?"

"Your voice. It did something funny."

"Huh? Oh, do you mean the accent?" Evan flushed brightly; he had really tried to kill that slight twang of a farmer's accent, but it still persisted at times. "Uhm, well, I was born in a town way far from here. On a farm, actually. With chickens and pigs. Got a slight accent somewhere along the way. Kind of a 'Henesys' voice, I guess?"

"What's…Henesys…" Aran's voice slowed down considerably.

"Henesys is a town on Victoria Island."

"You speak nonsense. Victoria Island is almost entirely uninhabited by humans. All that live there are monsters and elves." Aran shot back irately.

"Not in three hundred years."

"Well…of course things are going to change three hundred years ago. But you can't say you're from a town that won't exist until way after your life will run out." Aran said matter-a-factly. "Unless you're some kind of fairy or elf. Are you an elf, Evan? It would explain why you're so weird looking. And why you never seem to grow any taller."

"I'm not an elf." Evan said irritably.

"Sure." Aran chuckled lightly. "But you're definitely weird."

"I'm not weird." Evan felt strangely calm; perhaps because at the moment he wasn't looking at a threatening full grown woman. He was looking at a little girl with a personality and strength to match her age. "I'm telling you the truth. I come from Victoria Island and there's a reason you can only barely remember my name."

"Shut up." Aran said sharply, defensively.

"No. This has gone too far." Evan snapped back. "Aren't you even paying attention to your surroundings? Don't you even realize that neither of us belong here? Don't you realize that I've NEVER been part of this place—that this is all an illusion?"

"…I don't know what you are talking about." Aran's eyes had fully glassed over. No shine was visible and the lids fell almost completely shut. "Evan, you're being ridiculous. Maybe you got heat stroke too…maybe you should go lay down."

"The dream is taking hold." Kairos whispered to Evan. "You didn't really think it was going to be that easy, did you? Straight out saying to people that their 'reality' is a dream will get you laughed out. Consider this: if some person, even a close friend, came up to you outside of this dream and told you that reality was a lie…would you believe them, Evan?"

"Eh…no."

"Exactly. Just SAYING it is fake won't get her attention. She'll drown you out with what is more 'logical'…because really, it IS more logical to assume that your current place of being IS reality." Kairos explained. Aran was staring at Evan as he talked to what she saw to be nothing. "Really, you don't have definitive enough proof to show her that this all doesn't exist."

"O-oh…so what CAN I do?"

Kairos shrugged noncommittally. "Wait it out. She'll figure it out soon, especially if you stay in the picture. Just keep yourself in this chain of memories and eventually you'll reach a weak point—a place where you existing would defy all forms of logic. It'll come up soon, trust me. This chain is almost there…unless I'm not foreseeing something. Which is possible, I'm much weaker than Rhinne is."

"Evan…?" Aran asked nervously. "Come on, you're freaking me out. Why are you talking to yourself like that? Why are you even talking like THIS? This is reality. I…I guess I've been pretty busy lately so my mind got scrambled. I've got big obligations here but I guess that's no excuse for neglecting a friend, huh?"

"Uhhh…no, it's fine." Evan said sheepishly. _I don't think we were really friends to begin with. Not in a normal timeline, anyways._

It felt a little bad knowing that this little tan girl clearly trusted and worried for him like her own flesh and blood. Especially because Evan knew when reality came back, Aran would go right back to her cold self and Evan would lose this trust and friendship. It was kind of nice to see this happy girl who was at least MILDLY friendly. He wouldn't peg the tween as the most appealing personality-wise but she was several steps up from her adult form—the adult that glared at him judgmentally, made snide remarks about his abilities, and even went as far as to suggest he just be left behind on many missions.

Aran was different here.

And it was nice. Just to sit here talking with another Hero without being barraged with insults or coddled like an inept baby. Kairos tugged his ear impatiently; _Don't create a dream within a dream and get sucked into a false reality as well, boy._ Evan twitched; the little goddess was right, of course. He was getting caught up in his desire for approval from his allies. Quickly, he shot to his feet.

"I hope you get better." The boy muttered forlornly as he exited. Aran watched in complete confusion. Finally, though, she went back to sipping at her tea.

"He's awfully weird, but I guess that's why I made him my friend." She muttered. "After all, I don't like boring people…"


	5. Illusions of You

Doors to Utopia

Chapter Five

Illusions of You

Evan knew when he woke up in the morning, he'd be in a different place in a different time. Wobbling up from the fine green silk bed, he rubbed his eyes. Then he paused. Fine green silk? The boy looked around nervous; the room he was in was quite extravagant. Evan couldn't imagine what had passed while he was asleep. It seemed like he was still in the village, though; bamboo peppered the layout of the room and trinkets of war hung on the walls. Peeking past the heavy curtains of the bamboo window, he noted the thick falling snow. So it was winter again…the seasons had passed quite a bit, but Evan couldn't tell how many years had passed. He'd have to wait until Aran showed up again.

The boy didn't have long to wait.

"Good morning, _Kada._" Her voice was smoother, deeper—Evan could quickly peg that many years had passed. Looking to the tan woman only furthered his belief. Now, Aran looked much like she did in the present. Although the boy noted that the white ponytail was quite a bit shorter, as well as the body less developed. If he had to make a guess, Evan would place her around seventeen years old. And she was looking at him strangely.

"Eh…what is Kada?" Evan asked sheepishly. Aran raised an eyebrow.

"You know what _Kada_ is, Evan." She said slowly. "Now is not the time to be silly. Despite the glory of the prior day, we shall be making contact with the Order of Orbis today. They would like to study our customs and develop strong relations with our people. As a leader, I must make my decision…and, of course, you will assist."

"What? Why would I assist?" Evan asked hopelessly. He was desperately trying to form a grasp on the situation. "I mean, I'm not exactly leader material…"

"Be that as it may, you are still a _Kada_ of mine. As such, you are required to assist in decisions of the tribe." Aran answered. She was already fairly sure of herself. Evan couldn't say the same about himself; he didn't even know what this 'Kada' thing was. Obviously it was some sort of position of power among Aran's people, but the boy couldn't fathom how he had earned it.

Despite that, he quickly threw on some clothes and followed after the tall woman. The duo strode through crowds of people. All of them moved immediately when they saw the serious expression on Aran's face; she wanted to move fast, and tugged at Evan's hand to speed him up. The boy couldn't imagine why, but then again, he didn't even know what the 'Order of Orbis' was. He supposed they were fairly important.

"Evan, we must stand proud and sure in front of these scholars. They may affect the world's view on us." Aran instructed, throwing a polearm into his hands. "This is a specially designed ceremonial weapon to be used by _Kada, _both male and female. I too will be wielding a powerful symbolic weapon—my glorious accomplishment, Maha."

"Maha…" Evan repeated the name slowly. Now THAT word…he knew that word. It was the name of Aran's polearm in the present day. According to the warrior, Maha had a spirit that only she could see. After all the crazy shit he had been through with soul pacts, Evan figured he might as well believe her.

He followed Aran into what seemed to be an arena. The boy idly thought how appropriate it was for her to have an official meeting within an area meant for fighting. Her people were quite fond of physical perfection and fighting abilities. But Evan kept quiet; this event was obviously too serious to be making smartass remarks about. The people waiting for them at the conference table looked quite serious.

Aran and Evan sat down in bamboo chairs in front of the main table. Three people were waiting for them. The first was an older man with half moon glasses and a silly, long hat adorning his white hair. His robes were a bright white; they almost blinded the boy with how the sunlight reflected against the fabric. On his right was a man with jet black hair and bright blue eyes. His white robe reflected just as brightly as his keen smile. On the older man's other side was a redhead man…nay, a redhead teen no older than Aran. He was wearing a warm, welcoming smile and had vibrant blue eyes that spoke of great wisdom that was beyond his age. Something about him seemed familiar.

"Good afternoon. It's a pleasure to meet you." The elder man in the center extended his hand; Aran took it and gave him a handshake that rocked his entire arm. The scholar drew his arm back quickly, rubbing his wrist with a strained smile. "Quite an arm you've got there, Miss. My name is Yoen. Master Yoen, if you please. I am the head scholar and magician at the Order of Orbis."

"A pleasure, I'm sure." Aran said flippantly.

"And my companions here can introduce themselves." Master Yoen gestured to the black haired man next to him.

"Ah, my name is Ichai. I'm the Junior Master at the Order of Orbis." The raven man explained cheerfully. "My major studies are cultures and heritage. I was invited along so I could publish a paper on the wonderful culture here."

"I'm sure." Aran replied. She then looked to the redhead. "And you?"

"Who, me?" The third man had a deeper voice; confident and calming, but a tad bit unnerving. This man was clearly intelligent beyond Evan's understanding. In general, something about this third man made the boy a bit uncomfortable. "I'm one of Master Yoen's occasional advisors…the Order of Orbis faces some serious issues sometimes, you know. I generally research wildlife, alchemy, and elemental magic. My name is Freud."

"…WHAT?" Evan said in disbelief. "WHAT did you say your name was?"

"Ahaaha…well…my name is Freud?" The redhead seemed confused by Evan's words.

"Could you maybe show me your right hand?" Evan asked awkwardly. Aran looked at the boy with disbelief and annoyance running across her features, but Freud just laughed a bit and extended out his hand. Evan took one of the glove fingers and pulled the glove off his hand to examine it carefully.

Nothing. The palm was entirely blank.

_But he's only around seventeen or eighteen here._ Evan told himself as he sat back with his arms crossed. _He might not have completely his pact with Afrien. Heck, he might have not even THOUGHT about such a concept yet. That was stupid of me._

"Your _Kada_ is very brash." Freud commented warmly. Aran stiffened visibly. Evan just shrugged; he didn't even know what Kada meant. "But I can certainly see him as a well meaning individual. Don't you?"

"Of course I do." Aran said immediately. Freud laughed and clicked his pen.

"Then why don't we get started."

They spent several hours talking with the three men as the numerous members spread on the other tables took rigorous notes. It definitely made Evan feel a bit scrutinized, but Aran seemed to take it completely in stride. She spent the whole time with a serious, business-like expression on her face and expertly answered each question. Though Evan figured the latter was a given. Unlike himself, Aran had privy to a full understanding of her people. Evan figured he was supposed to know as well.

After a few hours, the researchers gathered up their books and papers and bid them farewell. Freud lingered for a few extra minutes to cast a curious glance at Evan; the boy looked at his feet. This was not the real Freud and Evan knew it. It was disappointing to almost have a chance to speak with the man, and then realize it was for naught. Before he realized it, though, the redhead stood next to him with a warm smile.

"I'm not sure how you knew about my research on the dragon pact…" Freud began. Evan's eyes widened; he WAS already working on the research with the Onyx Dragons! "…but I do know that, just looking at you…there is an important reason for you to be both in this world and the other one."

"The…other one…?" Evan said in disbelief. Had Aran's dreamworld Freud become…AWARE of itself…? He shook the thought off; that wasn't possible. None of this was real; it was under complete control by a fantasy. But Evan wasn't sure…when he cast his eyes back to the redhead, he just smiled knowingly at him then looked up to the confused woman standing aside him.

"…Interesting _Kada_ you have here. A good individual. You are wise in your selection, dear chief." Freud told her. Aran looked away from him haughtily. "You should be careful, though…"

"Your time with us is up, scholar." Aran snapped. "It is time you leave."

"…Very well." Freud snapped his book shut but his smile did not vanish. He seemed like a very easygoing individual in Evan's eyes…but certainly more mature than himself. It almost hurt to look at the previous Dragon Master, even if he wasn't a Dragon Master. Evan cast off the thoughts with a shake of his head. "You both have a good day. From what I hear, your _Machi_ was yesterday. Very exciting. Maybe one day I'll be privy to that sort of ceremony."

"Maybe." Aran paused. "…I know a _Machi_ taking place in a month…I will see if I can arrange your attendance, as long as you keep your mouth shut while the ceremony is taking place."

"Aran, what's Machi?" Evan whispered, pulling her arm fretfully. She sighed and led him away from Freud calmly, back to the house they had left earlier. The sun was fading quickly. Evan cast a glance over his shoulder to look back at Freud, but the redhead had disappeared with his troupe of scholars.

"Aran, uh…" Evan sat down on the floor of the room, looking around at the silk clad area. "Could you PLEASE tell me what Kada is? I mean, I have no idea…"

"Evan, please, don't be ridiculous. I'm tired." Aran sighed.

"…Okay, will you just refresh me?"

Aran sat down to him and rubbed his head fretfully. "You are scaring me a bit, Evan, but if you really need to be reminded…_ Kada _is the partner, the eternal ally, the one who is always there no matter. _ Kada _is the one who is needed to feel safe and stable. _Kada _is 'mine'."

"…Oh, you aren't saying…please don't tell me that you're saying that I'm your husband." Evan said, fear evident in his eyes.

"Husband…? I think there is an equivalent word in other societies, and I'm quite sure that is what it is. It is not quite as strong and meaningful as _Kada_, though." Aran smiled and hugged the boy against her. It successfully kept her from seeing Evan's horrified expression. "Many were jealous. Not every man gets to be the _Kada_ of a chief. But you were a very important part of my life for such a long time…it is only fitting that you become such."

"NO!" Evan shrieked, pushing her away from him. Aran looked shocked. "Aren't you even LOOKING at me, Aran?! I'm a kid! I'm thirteen years old! You can't marry a thirteen year old kid, Aran!"

"You are not a child…" Aran said slowly. "You are taller than me…"

Evan paused.

_The illusion is altering how I look to her…to join me into the fake dream._ Evan realized morbidly. But this had to stop. The dream had gone too far. So he stood up and took the tan woman's face in his hands and looked at her seriously.

"Look at me."

They sat there for a long while, just staring blankly at each other. Aran was trembling slightly as she held the pale hands onto her face. Then, slowly, they closed to grasp the small hands…the child's hands. Evan realized immediately that the thin sheen of illusion that had been placed over him had crumbled. He figured it wasn't strong anyways—it only covered him very weakly, and he was still there underneath. With that illusion disappearing, the woman saw him for what he was…for how fake this world was.

"…You aren't real, are you…" She whispered. "You never were."

"I'm real, Aran. I'm one of the few things about this mishmash hellhole." He sighed. "It's nice here. People are friendly here. Everything goes perfectly for you. Is this how you truly remember your past, Aran?"

"My past…" Aran repeated.

"Look into your memories. Your REAL memories." Evan said. Aran slowly closed her eyes to think desperately; she couldn't draw anything up. All she could see right now was the idle memory of the person who sat in front of her—but not as the i_Kada/i_, not as a full grown man. Aran now saw a child, dressed in red and wearing a strange headband and smiling stupidly and messing up and being…

"…Real memories…" Aran mumbled. "…Everything that has been happening…wasn't real…and I fabricated you to be part of it. The dream shaped you into something you weren't…into a child, into this concept of _Kada_. What even IS Kada? What the hell is MACHI? All these words I know…but I'm filling in the blanks as to what they mean. I don't really remember, do I?"

"No…you don't." Evan said, a pang of guilt tearing at his stomach. This felt so wrong somehow. But Rhinne and Kairos had warned him that it might be painful. He just had to go with it, whether it hurt or not. "You can find your memories, Aran, but…are you really finding them HERE?"

"….No."

And with a blink of an eye, Evan was sitting in the middle of the Temple of Time. Aran lay collapsed at the side, but she was quickly rising to conscious. Evan looked over to Rhinne curiously and Kairos jumped out of his shirt to hug his cheek. Rhinne smiled wordlessly, and Evan laughed weakly as he cast his eyes over to the rubble of Aran's utopia.

"That seemed so mean, Rhinne." Evan said.

"It was. Dragging someone from Heaven to Hell is a very cruel and heartbreaking process. But look." Rhinne gestured back over to Aran. "She rises. She rises to fight in a world and WORK to gain her utopia. And utopia is always more satisfying when you gain it yourself."

Aran groaned audibly, annoyed, but Evan smiled brightly instead.

"So who is next?"


	6. Ignorance is Bliss

Doors to Utopia

Chapter Six

Ignorance is Bliss

Mercedes' door was a dark green stone, emblazoned with symbols and leaf carvings. In the center was a wreath of berries and flowers. Two bowguns were carved below the wreath, with a crown carved above. Evan lay his hand hesitantly on the door handle; he wasn't sure about this one. Aran…she was the kind of girl who was one of the guys. Mercedes was a bit different. She embraced her femininity completely and made it clear she was a girl. Evan wasn't sure about invading a girl's dreams—it seemed bizarre and uncomfortable to his thirteen year old mind. But with Rhinne and Kairos watching him sternly, he knew he didn't have much of a choice in the matter.

Still, he pushed forward. The door disappeared behind him as he breathed in fresh morning air. Dew was dripping from the crisp green leaves and massive trees. Evan immediately recognized the woodland around him. It was Ellinia—or, he supposed, Ellin Forest. He had been told once that the name had been different and that the place had once been far more dangerous. The boy cringed; without Mir with him, Evan was completely defenseless. Kairos was already cowering inside his jacket.

He yelped loudly when a barrage of arrows flew past his head. They were followed in turn by a group of smaller men and women; the group was so fast that Evan barely realized that they were passing. When he looked to the left, he saw them circled around a dead pig. The pointy eared creature were delicately slicing up the meat and placing it in bags. Evan marveled at how agile they were; even such a simple activity was performed so gracefully.

The boy shuffled towards the group as quietly as he could; one of the girl's ears twitched and she spun around. Her red ponytail slapped against her shoulders as she pointed her bow at the boy. Then she lowered it, eyes wide in amazement. Evan couldn't quite peg her reasoning. But as the group of elves gathered around him and poked at his sides, he became increasingly more uncomfortable.

"Uhm…hello…" He said nervously. They all gasped.

"He can speak!"

"Humans can speak?"

"I never knew…"

"W-what…?" Evan stuttered. He couldn't figure out what was going on. They were acting really weird so he backed against a tree, fearful. They were, after all, fairies. And fairies had never been fond of human beings. They didn't stop chattering and prodding him incessantly despite his movement away from them.

"How did you survive, human?" One asked curiously. Evan stared.

"Survive?"

"Yes. How have you survived all these years? You look so very young. Did you go without mother?" The redhead girl asked curiously.

"What? Of course not. I live in a farm in Henes—" Evan stopped. Henesys wouldn't be around for some time now…but for some reason, their lack of knowledge of humans was disturbing him. "C-could you maybe tell me what you mean by…survive…?"

"What, you don't know? Oh, that's so sad…" The redhead shook her head. "Your parents must have refused to tell you—too depressing for a child, I suppose. Dear boy…back around fifty years ago, all human beings were wiped off the face of the planet by a horrific poison. It only affected the human race—to all other species, it was like a breath of fresh scented air, but to humans…it was a toxic poison that reeked of bile and death."

"H-humans…EXTINCT…?" Evan stuttered. That couldn't be right. This was Mercedes' dream…she couldn't possibly wish for something like THAT, could she? Something nagged at the back of his head that she would—Mercedes was kind and helpful enough to them, but she HAD displayed the customary fairy hatred towards humans. At most, she seemed to tolerate the other Heroes for their species.

He groaned as the elves milled around him.

"Come with us, human! You must meet our queen!" The redhead said cheerily. Evan perked up—that was Mercedes. He HAD to get to Mercedes and end this as quickly as possible; he didn't want to be extinct, even in a fantasy. So he followed them through the woods. The boy couldn't even begin to comprehend how they knew where they were going. He couldn't see a path in sight. They just seemed to know every tree, every twig, every blade of grass. Evan was impressed; they were quite in tune with their surroundings.

He gasped audibly when they broke into the clearing. Eurel looked so bright and full of life; the trees were in full bloom with roses hanging all over them, and the grass was fresh with morning dew. Not a trace of ice was to be seen; instead, the elfin people wandered around freely with wide smiles on their faces. And not a trace of ice was to be found. Evan sighed slightly. So this was Mercedes' utopia—Eurel, free of its curse and free of the so called human menace. He figured he should have known.

"What have you brought to me, Danika?" Evan looked up at the high voice; Mercedes was gazing down at them from upon her harp as the redhead elf bowed before her. Her clothes were not for battle, but for leisure and touch with nature—just a simple blue-green dress and no shoes. But the sharp gaze was still there. She was still a queen inside. And she was a queen who did not look happy to see him.

"Your majesty, it is a human." Danika said hesitantly. Mercedes snorted derisively.

"Don't be ridiculous, Danika. You know that all the humans died out fifty years ago." She said solemnly. But her face was twisted into a nervous frown as she stared at the brunette boy. Evan shuddered. "Perhaps a lost elf with a mutation on the ears. Nothing more."

"No, your highness!" Danika protested. "It truly is a human being! I know they died out, but they were a conscious species so there of course may have been survivors! You of all people should know this—you contacted human beings for treaties! You knew of them, interacted with them!"

"Yes. I knew of them." Mercedes snapped. "And I am wise enough to know that they—"

"Your majesty." A man with brown hair, tied into a neat ponytail, appeared at her side. He wore a serious expression and bent down to speak to his queen. Mercedes rolled her eyes in annoyance. "I suggest you listen to Danika. Look at the child. He is just a boy, but clearly taller than our adults. He has rounded ears. According to some of the hunters that found him, he claims to be a human. I am quite sure that he has no reason to lie…the boy is human."

Mercedes narrowed her eyes and shot to her feet, gesturing at Evan with one finger. "You. Evan. Come with me. We must speak."

The brunette boy followed the short blonde queen nervously. Kairos shimmied out of his shirt to sit on his shoulder, watching the back of her head calculatingly. Then she turned to Evan and patted him on the neck. "Do not trust this. The queen hides something from her people and you are a threat to it."

"Alright…"

"Are you talking to yourself, Evan?" Mercedes stopped dead. "I wonder if you really are, or if you are speaking to one of Rhinne's children. I can't see them, of course, because she makes them to only be visible to a chosen individual…"

"M-Mercedes…what…how do you know about Kairos?" Evan said nervously, cupping the tiny girl into his hands to hide her from sight. Kairos peered out from between his fingers anyways. She wore a suspicious and judgmental glare on her tiny features. The elfin woman turned around and stared at his gloved hands and sighed. "Wait…you know my name? This is way in the past…if all the humans died out, I wouldn't even be born! What's going on, Mercedes?!"

"You're so naïve. You always have been." Mercedes snorted. The woman gestured the boy to walk with her and Evan obliged, still holding Kairos out of sight. The little woman was trembling now; Evan couldn't decide if she was angry or fearful. Perhaps both. "Evan, do you see this world? This beautiful utopia in which all my subjects are happy? In which humans cannot bother us with their polluting, greedy ways? This place…is beautiful…"

Her eyes were hazing over; Evan reached out to touch her arm but Mercedes smacked it away with a glare. "Don't touch me. I know what you're trying to do here in my dream. You're trying to drag me away from this peaceful place into your filthy human wasteland. A world ruined by the actions of human folly—my people want no part in that!"

"These aren't your people, Mercedes!" Evan cried out. "They're a fantasy! They aren't here! It's just an ILLUSION!"

"Wrong." She said. "I brought my people into this world. Their conscious rests within the ice on Eurel—I just dragged those spirits out of Eurel, along with my elders. It was a simple task."

"But…wait. Wait a second. You…" Evan dropped Kairos in shock; the little woman smacked his foot irately but went ignored. "This…the way you say all this…Mercedes, you KNOW that this a fantasy world? That this isn't reality?"

"Of course I do." She said wryly. "It's the perfect fantasy world. It's the one that I can live in with my people—a world new dimension where humans don't exist, and can't wreck the world. It's a world where we can all be at peace and interact CORRECTLY with nature and the world around us. Is it a fantasy? I don't care. I am here with all my people, and to me, that is the most important thing in the world."  
"They AREN'T YOUR PEOPLE, Mercedes!" Evan cried desperately. "They aren't REAL! Don't you get it? You're being tricked! I know you aren't this dumb, Mercedes, come on…please."

"I'm not being dumb. I used my own abilities to create a world that is perfect for all of my people." Mercedes said. "I manipulated Arkarium's power to solidify this world. My goal has been reached by providing my people with the happiness they deserve. Don't you dare wreck our happiness. I WILL cast you out of my world if I see fit."

"What, so you're letting me stay?"

"Certainly. I want you to amuse me." Mercedes smirked. "Come on, child. Do you think you can pull me out of this dream? If you do, you are naïve and arrogant. I'm hundreds of years older than you and certainly wiser. Not to mention the ruler of this world. So go ahead and stay—I could use the amusement. Sometimes utopia can get a bit boring."

With that, she turned around and stomped back into the hall. Evan watched after her incredulously. He had NEVER seen the elf queen act this stubborn and immature. She was acting like a child. And while Mercedes did occasionally act spoiled, she certainly had never been THIS bad. In her fantasy world, the elfin woman seemed to handle herself as a 12 year old in charge of a group of younger children would. With a pout, and a stomping foot.

"What in the world is going on?!" Evan asked Kairos, holding the little woman up to his face. Kairos patted the boy on the nose and shook her head. "No, please, come on. She doesn't usually act this bad. Mercedes' can be kind of judgmental and stuck up but all of us know she's a good person deep down inside."

"You are correct, Evan." Kairos said solemnly. "But you must remember the nature of these dreams. Arkarium's dream constructs itself to manipulate not only their hopes and dreams, but their conscious though. Just because Mercedes is aware of this world doesn't mean she's free of it. To her, everything is a haze—she has become hypnotized by the perfection set before her and indulges in it shamelessly. It's all part of Arkarium's spell; it's using Mercedes herself to fight back against your attempts to free her. I suppose that after Aran broke free for her bonds that it became more aware of you as a threat."

"So what do I do?" Evan cried. "I mean, she's not going to listen to me! You know that! She said herself that her top priority has always been her people…the people here mean everything to her. She would do anything to keep them safe and happy and…well, they're safe and happy here in this illusion."

"Are they?"

"What?"

"ARE they safe and happy?" Kairos asked smugly, putting a finger in front of her lips. "Well…it's your job to help. You can figure it out, I think. You're smarter than you think you are…and certainly smarter than you LOOK."

"Hey!" Evan said indignantly. Kairos shook her head with a smile and shimmied up his arm and into his sleeve, poking her head out by the side of his neck. "Ugh, you know…you're hard to deal with."

"You'll thank me some day. Or not." Kairos grinned and poked back into his jacket. "You'll thank me some day."


	7. Voice of the People

Doors To Utopia

Chapter Seven

Voice of the People

Evan mulled around the town for quite some time. His gaze locked securely on the darkening sky and spotty stars. The elves about him continued to stare blankly at him; he was well aware that he had quickly become a sideshow and sighed. Kairos stared back at the elves in determination; Evan was greatly happy that she couldn't be seen by them, as she had taken to making cruel hand signals at them. It was obvious that the little woman was not pleased with this fantasy world around her.

The boy could not blame her.

_This is supposed to be good? An isolated, self serving environment?_ Evan pondered. _I don't get it…but then again, I never understood the whole superiority complex that fairies seem to always have. Maybe it's because I was raised in Henesys…we never had any fairies besides Athena. And she was always really nice to everyone…she has no prejudice against humans._

He started slightly when he felt a tugging on his jacket. Moving his arm out of his view, Evan saw a little girl with dirty blonde pigtails and green eyes. She wore a powder pink dress and held one hand behind her back. Her lips were spread into a wide and curious smile. Evan couldn't help but smile at her sweet face. He bent down next to her and she smiled even wider, giving the boy a curtsy.

"Hi there. What's your name?" Evan asked.

"M'name is Athena Pierce. I'm 140 and a half years old and I like archery." She giggled. Evan paused; Athena? He supposed that made sense. After all, she had known and idolized Mercedes as a child…it would only be logical for her to be part of this fantasy world. "I haven't ever seen a human being before. You're really tall and your ears are funny. But I like you. You look nice!"

"Ha ha…well, I'm glad that you like me. Your Queen sure doesn't…" Evan mumbled morosely. He hadn't been able to get in a single word with Mercedes since their first talk. Several days had already passed and he wasn't making any progress. "…Athena, could you tell me about this place? You know…tell me about Eurel?"

"Oh, Eurel's a lovely place." Athena took his hand and sat him down. Evan smiled lightly; with all the troubles he had been having lately, it was nice to see a smiling and welcoming face. "We're the only city on this entire island—the rest is filled with monsters for us to hunt! Pigs and slimes and all sorts of weird creatures! I haven't even seen some of them yet…I'm too young to join a hunting party. I can't even leave the town yet…anyone under three hundred is barred from such actions. And even then most of us have to wait until we've hit four hundred…you know, so we have enough skills to survive the outside world."

"That sounds awfully boring."

"How so?" Athena questioned.

"Well…you're isolated in this town. Do you know anything about the outside world? About…you know, off of Victoria Island?" Athena gave him a questioning look and Evan sighed. "Outside of Eurel?"

"Uh, I know there are some cities outside of ours." Athena said timidly. "But we don't go off of our island. It's safe and peaceful here."

"Could you tell me of the outside world?"  
"Uhm…there are four cities I know of." Athena replied. "This one, of course…there is also the city of Orbis. It is run by the nymphs. Another is Ariant. It was controlled by a human king until he died, and his fairy wife Areda took over and repopulated the town with her own people. The final is Leafre, occupied primarily by the Halfingers."

"So there really are no humans left?"

"No…" Athena said quietly. Then she perked up. "Well, YOU'RE alive! That could be a sign, you know. Maybe there's more like you. I'd be interesting to see more humans. It can get boring around here…not much exciting happens. It's peaceful, but boring. And some of us feel…I dunno, uneducated. I know some people who aren't happy not knowing about places outside of Ellin Forest…"

"So you aren't all happy?"

"We're as happy as we should be, I guess." Athena shrugged and stood up, gazing back at the crowd of children she emerged from. The girl seemed entirely uninterested in them. "So what's it like being one of the few remaining human beings?"

"Trust me, if I told you my story, you wouldn't believe it." Evan smiled weakly. "But I'm still glad to talk to someone. Most of the elves ignore me. Probably because Mercedes doesn't like me too much."

"Yeah, I noticed that." Athena paused. "You know, she really just wants the best for us. We're her people…she's always wanted the best for us, even if it means this isolation. But I dunno…maybe happiness isn't happiness. Maybe everyone has their own INDIVIDUAL happiness…a joy from knowing more, and being more. On Eurel, we've kind of got our predestined positions. It's tradition, you see…and the outside world didn't seem to have that. The HUMAN world didn't have that. If you want to defy the norm, you can try really hard to do just that. It's not the same here. Don't get me wrong, I love my people and love Eurel, but the outside world is tempting."

"…You speak so much like an adult, Athena." Evan pointed out. The elfin child looked at him with solemn, introspective eyes. The boy simply stared back. He recalled Mercedes' words and realized he was not looking at a child, but simply a woman trapped as one.

_ I brought my people into this world. Their conscious rests within the ice on Eurel—I just dragged those spirits out of Eurel, along with my elders. It was a simple task. _

"You can't be serious…she actually DID that…?" Evan said in amazement. Athena watched him silently, head bowed slightly and hands laced together on her powder pink dress. "Amazing. No wonder she's so happy here. It really DOES give her everything she wants."

"I wish I completely knew what you were talking about." Athena said sadly. The boy looked at her in confusion. "I feel like there's something I should know. That there's a reason everyone says I act like an adult. But there's something being hidden here, and I can't remember what it is. It's like my mind has been completely taken from me. It's so happy here and yet it feels so empty."

"So you aren't happy at ALL."

"…Maybe. Perhaps…maybe you should just go talk to Phillius." Evan raised an eyebrow. Athena pointed over to Mercedes' throne, at a man with light brown hair in a long ponytail. Evan recognized him as the man who had coaxed Mercedes into admitting the Dragon Master was a human. He had seemed nice enough. "If anyone would know, he would. Him and the other Elders have deep spiritual and magical abilities—if there is something odd going on, they would most certainly know it."

"You're a helpful kid, Athena. I'm sure you'll be very smart and agile and helpful when you get older." Evan said, rubbing the blonde hair. Athena giggled and ran back to her friends, sitting down around what seemed to be a teacher. Kairos swiftly poked her head out of the red jacket and leaned against the boy's neck.

"They know." She said nonchalantly.

"Some of them." Evan replied. "Athena is a skilled adult with a lot of life experiences. Of course she'd be figuring it out when she gets dragged back into being a kid again. And if she's figured it out, I wouldn't be shocked if the other guys did too. She's right. That brown haired guy is some super special wise man."

"Don't count on him." Kairos warned.

"Why?"

"He's one of Mercedes' Elders. It's his job to GUIDE Mercedes, but it's also his job to keep his majesty happy." Kairos explained. "I welcome you to try your luck, though. Who knows what might happen."

"…Do I really have anything to lose?"

"Not really. It's not like we were making any progress to begin with."

"Then let's go." Evan strode confidently over to the brown haired man. When Phillius caught sight of him, Evan was sure he saw the Elder's eyes roll. He ignored the action and stood in front of the elf with his arms crossed. Mercedes peered over at the boy suspiciously but looked away when he directed his gaze to her. Her bottom lip jutted out immaturely. Evan sighed internally; this dream world really was twisting the Queen into something she certainly was not. It was sad to watch.

"May I help you, human boy?" Phillius asked.

"I have a name. It's Evan." The Dragon Master said curtly. The Elder looked like he wanted to laugh, but restrained himself. "There's something I NEED to talk to you about."

"Oh? And what would that be?"

"I need to talk to you about it in private. It's necessary for the survival of your people but there are SOME who won't listen to what I have to say." Evan glared over at Mercedes. She snorted. "Please. I just want ten minutes of your time. That's all I ask. If you don't believe me after that…then do whatever you want with me."

Phillius looked over to his Queen, face full of worry. She tossed her hair to the side and said nothing but her face spread with distaste. With a sigh, Phillius bowed his head and gestured for the child to follow him around the gigantic tree in the middle of town. Evan obliged silently as he was led to a large clearing. In the middle was a gazebo with a table on it. The table was decorated with bright pink and red flowers, and the vines climbed all over the gazebo. Evan couldn't tell if the vines were from overgrowth or if that was just how the elves wanted it to be.

"Sit, human." Phillius gestured at one chair. The boy did as he was told, folding his hands on his lap. "I know that whatever you have to say is of great importance, be it good importance or bad importance. I knew that this conversation would have to happen eventually. You came here for a reason. So tell me: what is that reason?"

"Well…what if I told you that this place wasn't really real?" Evan began. Phillius said nothing. "What if I told you that this place that LOOKS like Eurel is actually an elaborate spell that is constructed by a madman to trap all the elves away from reality?"

"I am well aware of that."

"What if I—wait, what?" Evan said incredulously.

"I am well aware of that. All the Elders besides Danika are aware of that—she's too young to actually notice it." Phillius said calmly. "When I saw you, I recognized you as Freud's protégé. You came here to break the spell."

"W-well, yes!" Evan cried out happily.

"Unfortunately, I cannot allow you to do that."

"…What?"

"You see, human, be you Freud's protégé or not…I still am loyal to my Queen. Mercedes' happiness is the top priority of all the Elders. This is why Astilda and I have agreed to allow this fantasy to persist." Phillius explained. "And why shouldn't we? The elves are safely locked away from the Blackwings. We have the peace and serenity that we always so desperately desired. THIS is what we WANTED our world to be—back in the real world, our town of Eurel is now on an island overflowing with humans. There is no place for Eurel in that world."

"Things CHANGE, sir." Evan said sharply.

"They do. But we have a choice to make—the happiness of OUR people, or the happiness of a group that we never cared for to begin with." Phillius scoffed. "It would be ridiculous to choose their happiness over ours."

"There is a WORLD out there." Evan said. "And you know what that world is? Your HOME WORLD. Your REAL WORLD. The world that needs the help of all the elves, and needs the help of the QUEEN OF ELVES. You really think that you have some right to sit here and tell me that you and your people are more important than the WHOLE WORLD? The only reason you're even THINKING that is because you're being just as fooled by Arkarium's spell as Mercedes is."

"We are fooled by no such spell. We just know what's important."

"What's important? WHAT'S IMPORTANT?!" Evan shrieked. "You talk in these 'we' when you don't even really know what they want! How do YOU know that every single elf here is SATISFIED with this lie of a world? Do you really think all elves are happy with this isolation being FORCED on them by this PETTY ATTITUDE that you and your Queen are displaying?! You're letting this spell sink way too deep into your skull. You think you're in control when you have no control at all. Arkanium's spell is manipulating you into being this selfish…!"

"I think I've had enough of you. I think we all have. I can't allow you to come near our Queen." Phillius said steadily. "I don't know what you're playing at here, or why you think you have the right to put words into the mouths of our people…but I do not appreciate it. Mercedes may have tolerated it for a cheap laugh but I will not. I am immediately casting you out of this town. You shouldn't have been allowed in to start with. Danika should have left you to be eaten by the wild animals."

"You…how could you…" Evan stuttered. "Arkarium's spell…I mean, he…how can you act so ignorant of this?!"

"Maybe when you grow up, CHILD, you'll understand." Phillius said sharply as he rose to his feet. "You can leave from any exit. But know that I expect you gone by tomorrow morning. If you for some reason AREN'T gone, I will have no hesitance in telling our hunters to shoot you full of holes."

"I…"

"Leave." Phillius said steadily. The conversation had ended; the man was already retreating back to Mercedes' podium. Evan was left gaping after him; his legs were too weak to even stand. Kairos slid down his arm onto the glass table and hugged one of his fingers nervously. They both knew it was dangerous outside of Eurel. Ellinia—Ellin Forest, really—was far more dangerous in this time period.

"Kairos…" Evan mumbled. "What do we do…"

"Leave." Kairos replied immediately. Evan looked at her incredulously. "We will be no use to Mercedes if we stay here and allow the elves to shoot you full of holes. There has to be another way around this—something that we can do WITHOUT contact with the village. We have to find a way to make this work. And it clearly won't work if we stay in Eurel."

Evan sighed. "Yeah. You're right."

Kairos smiled comfortingly and climbed back into his jacket. "Don't worry…I'm sure we'll be fine…we just have to fight hard in a DIFFERENT way."


	8. Clash of Survival

Doors to Utopia

Chapter Eight

Clash of Survival

Rain poured down from the sky, but Evan was mostly protected from it by the thick leafs of the Ellin Forest trees. They had always been massive in presence—they seemed even bigger in the past. Their towering presence didn't make him feel any better. Evan was cold, wet, and unhappy. Not to mention very scared. Walking around Ellin Forest at night was not a pleasant experience. But after Phillius had cast him out of Eurel, Evan didn't have much of a choice. He had to find cover and soon. At least, before the creatures of the night came after him.

"Over there." Kairos pointed. Evan followed her gaze. At the bottom of one of the trees was a large opening. The brunette sighed in relief and dived towards the opening. He shrieked and jumped backwards when a gigantic brown pig emerged from within. It growled menacingly at him; Evan peered beyond her and saw a slew of piglets cowering behind her. He sighed and turned away.

The pig would have none of it. She smacked her snout against his back roughly, knocking the child to his feet. Evan stumbled away from the pig fearfully; she was at least five times his size and he could see large teeth jutting out from under her lips. He knew he couldn't fight her off with the help of Mir, and his dragon was not allowed in these dreams. The massive creature has a complete advantage over him. All he could do was pray that the mother pig would go away and let him off easy.

But she seemed to be very protective over her territory. Her hoofs scrapped against the ground and she went into a charge. Evan yelped and rolled out of her way; the pig snorted irately and skid to a stop. The boy shuddered, realizing that he had rolled right over to the baby pigs. They squealed simply at the sight of him. He glanced back at the mother pig; she looked absolutely furious now, already breaking into a charge.

Evan covered his eyes. Pigs were mostly vegetarians—at least he wouldn't suffer the shame of being eaten by a dumb pig. Kairos was clinging to him, frantically pulling his brown hair. The boy shuddered.

_This is all their fault, isn't it?! If only there were some people left who would SYMPATHIZE with me…obviously the fairies won't!_ He thought desperately. His subsequent anger rose steadily. It felt new and odd; not like how his anger normally felt. It was more powerful, like it was sinking into the scenery around him. _It's not fair! It's just not fair…!_

He opened his eyes slightly when he heard the pig squeal. The mother had fallen to the ground, flailing weakly, as a spear was pulled from her side. For a second Evan thought he had the luck to run into the elfin hunters but realized that none of those elves used spears. He blinked a few times at the massive man atop the pig. This man and his rounded ears.

With a gasp, Evan realized he was looking at a human being.

The man was dressed in heavy skins and furs tied at the ankles by vines. He had light blonde hair and a cross look on his face. A rough stubble lined his chin and dark brown eyes stared back at him. Thick muscle lined his entire body. Evan shuffled away; this man didn't any safer than the pig. But he was coming closer. The man leaned in and with a grunt, poked Evan in the forehead. Then he shook his head, turning around to pick up the pig.

"W…who are you…?" Evan asked meekly. The man turned around to look at him in annoyance.

"So you speak?" He said. His voice was rough and unwelcoming. "Tch. Yet you sit there with that stupid expression on your face. How someone so small and weak survived is beyond me…I guess it takes all kinds. My name is Brett Harburg. I'm one of the Ellin Forest survivors."

"E-Ellin Forest survivors…?"

"Ugh…yeah." Brett rolled his eyes in frustration. "Survivors of the virus that spread and destroyed humanity? Well, you shouldn't listen to everything you hear. We're a stubborn species, after all. We don't die THAT easy. So what's your name?"

"Uhm…" Evan was still a bit confused; this WAS Mercedes' dream, after all, and her dream included a lack of humans. Why would her dream give him the advantage of having human survivors? He couldn't fathom it. This contradicted all that he had been told so far. He couldn't ponder on it too hard, though; Brett was watching him impatiently. "Evan. My name is Evan."

"Hrrmph. You look weak. How did you survivor the virus with those chicken limbs and that skinny ass body? You look like you'd be useless against any virus…then again, you also look like you did some outdoors work." Brett mused. "You have a bit of a tan. How did a obvious weak ass like yourself get that?"

"I was raised on a farm." Evan said. "My mom and dad owned a pig farm. I had to take care of pigs and chickens so I was outside a lot. And sometimes I worked on the fruit and vegetables, but not often. I know how to do SOME of that junk."

"A farmer, you say?" Brett's eyebrows shot up; he seemed very pleased. "We could use some farmers. We have a surplus of hunters but nowhere near enough farmers. Not that I mind, because pork is the best damn food we can get here. But that fancy smart ass never stops bothering us about how we need a balanced diet to keep ourselves healthy."  
"Fancy smart ass?"

"Yeah. Guy drives the hunters nuts, but he's the smartest asshole I've ever met so it's probably a good idea to take him seriously." Brett sighed irately. "So look, kid. You look weak as shit but we ALWAYS need more farmers. Even ones that are majorly inexperienced. Why don't you follow me to camp?"

"Camp? There are REALLY more of you?" Evan said incredulously. The older man chuckled lightly.

"You really think a chicken limbed kid like yourself would be the only survivor? As I said, we're a stubborn species. We don't just die out." Brett replied as he walked through the heavy foliage. Evan followed him clumsily. "The people in our camp come from all over the world, kiddo. This place seemed safest—there's a surplus of pigs and is pretty friendly to farming despite our lack of knowledge about it. Very fertile land."

"U…uh huh…" Evan had to navigate carefully; he wasn't too familiar with Ellin Forest and found himself tripped over everything. Brett didn't seem to want to slow down for the boy, either. He sighed and sped up; it was still hard to catch up with the man. Brett was massive and his footsteps equaled out to about five of Evan's own. But the trees were starting to thin out. He could see signs of human occupation with various stumps around them. Sitting on one in the distance was a young woman with a bundle in her arms. She looked up warmly as they entered the clearly.

"Who is the young one, Brett?" She said calmly. Evan peered over at the bundle; a small hand reached out and grasped one of the woman's thumbs. It was a baby. "We don't need to be adopting. After all, we already have this little one."

"I found him in the forest getting attacked by a pig, Elesa." Brett gestured at the dead beast on his shoulder. "I killed it to bring it back here but figured I'd talk to the brat for a second. Turns out he's a farmer. The smartass will be pleased."

"Brett, you really shouldn't refer to him like that." Elesa frowned visibly. Brett snorted. "He does many good things for us. He's very smart."

"I know, I know. Could you take the kid to him while I drop this off with the chefs? They should be able to make something good with the cuts of this. She's a very healthy pig." Brett said proudly. Elesa raised an eyebrow.

"You killed one of the females? We're only supposed to kill the males. It helps preserve the mothers." She scolded. Brett shrugged.

"It was going to kill the boy. Will you blame me for trying to save a child from imminent death, wife? Besides, this pig is massive. She will feed us for a good long time." Brett snapped back. Elesa just glared at him, but took Evan by the shoulders and guided him onto a poorly constructed path. "Elesa!"

"We will talk about this later, Brett." She replied sharply as she walked away from the man. Evan watched him as they watched away; the blonde man threw the dead pig on the ground and began to swear under his breath, kicking at one of the tree stumps. Elesa directed his face away from the scene by the chin. She had a warm, apologetic smile on her face. "I'm sorry for that, child. Brett really is a good man. He didn't kill that pig just for meat. He DID do it for your sake. He's just a pushover, especially for children. Isn't that right, Marigold?"

The baby in her arms babbled happily. Evan smiled; somehow, it felt like it had been a very long time since he had seen a warm and completely happy baby. It brought a little bit more hope to his heart. Elesa giggled lightly at his expression and he blushed bright red.

"I might take you to our leader. He will be pleased to see more survivors of the virus." She said warmly. "He's a bit of an odd person, though. He always seems to know more than he should about this world…like some all knowing sage."

"I see…" Evan said absentmindedly. He was distracted by the appearing huts and the people milling around. They stared at him with just as much curiosity as the elves had shown. Evan chose to ignore it this time. Elesa led him to a slightly larger hut with an animal skin over the door. She gestured him inside wordlessly. Curiously, he poked his head inside.

The inside was littered with scrolls and books. Spilled ink was clear on the floor. In the back was a thin flap of finely sewn fabric that covered a form. Evan could hear a voice mumbling to itself from behind the flap. Slowly, he crawled across the soft animal skins and pulled the flap away. And then he froze stiff.

"Good evening." Freud smiled brightly, dipping his pen into ink. Evan nearly fell over; this couldn't be possible. But it WAS the man he had seen in Aran's utopia. Same auburn hair, same piercing blue eyes, same smug and knowing smile. It was most certainly Freud. "I'm glad you could show up. I WAS afraid you would just give up on your quest but…that was silly of me."

"U…uh, well…" Evan stuttered. Then he finally blurted it out. "What are you doing in both Aran and Mercedes' dreams?!"

"Hmm? Oh, I'm just a fragment of their memories within this place—a shadow, if you will. I'm certainly not the real thing. They just know me well enough to create a replica of me within their dreams…I just happen to be entirely conscious of that. But from what I understand, you've been encountering that a lot lately." Freud laughed. Evan just stared dumbly at him. "I'm not a stupid man, Evan—not even as a shadow of myself. I just happened to notice you might need a little assistance with your current job."

"My current…you NOTICED I needed a little assistance?" Evan asked curiously.

"I'm always here as a shadow, Evan." Freud smiled mysteriously. "Even when I'm not real, I am able to realize when you need help. After all, we're one in the same. Connected by our profession, and the lineage of the Onyx royalty."

"But how did people appear at all?" Evan said hopelessly. "I mean, this is Mercedes' dream…she flat out said that her perfect world didn't have any HUMANS in it. I don't think she'd want a conflicting tribe of human beings within her dream. Why do these people exist?"

"You wanted us to be here. That's the simple explanation of the matter." Freud replied. Evan looked at the man like he was nuts and Freud sighed. "The whole world around you is a spell to satisfy the wishes and desires of the Heroes. But the spell was cast to encompass all Heroes. Without your knowledge, you managed to manipulate the dream in your favor. Your anger at the elves brought us to the forefront. Basically, you temporarily and unknowingly took control over the dream because it reacted to your desires."

"I can do that?"

"Certainly. But I wouldn't count on it as a consistent ability. Lucid dreaming, a type of dream control, takes a lot of effort to master. Most people never manage it, and if they do, it takes them a lifetime." Freud replied solemnly. "You just got very lucky and had the advantage of the dream being influenced by the spell."

"So I shouldn't expect that to be a constant weapon."

"No. You should be surprised that we exist here at all. And really, we only exist to do you a service and give you the refuge that the elves denied you." Freud replied. "If we are detected by Mercedes, she'll find a way to make us cease to exist. She's been mightily lowered down in patience. This world influences her personality badly. But you've probably figured that out by now."

"Yes. She was really mean to me." Evan grumbled. Freud sighed.

"Yes, Mercedes can be like that sometimes. I think that any of your fellow Heroes can assure you that she doesn't mean it." Freud smiled sympathetically. Evan nodded.

"I know. Trust me, I know. But it's just kind of hard." Evan looked at Freud hopefully. "Can you help me, please? I don't know how to get to her. I tried going through Phillius, but—"

"You tried going through PHILLIUS? Oh, dear me…" Freud chuckled. "You can't go through Phillius. He loves his Queen with all his heart, just like all the Elders do. His people do as well but they are much weaker in their love—they won't completely sacrifice their happiness for hers."

"But I can't contact them. I can't even get in the village." Evan said hopelessly. Freud shook his head.

"You're right, you can't. Not right now, anyways." Freud said. "It will take a very special event. And luckily, the elves have a regular practice that they use to praise the nature around them. During the practice, the elves of the town will be broken off into five different groups escorted by wise men and wise women. Mercedes, Phillius, Danika, and Astilda stay in Eurel to pay tributes to the Great Spirit. THIS is when you must go to the people. You have to contact them when the Elders and their Queen are unavailable."

"I…I…thank you very much!" Evan cried happily. Freud shrugged.

"I have much knowledge. I figured I might as well put it to some use." He said. "The next ceremony will take place in a week and a half. You should probably rest here while they prepare—you can help our 'people' in their farm work."  
"I'd like that." Evan was practically glowing. "Where do I stay?"

"You can stay with me. I wouldn't mind having a bit of discussion with you…it's not every day you meet a successor that you would never get to talk to otherwise. I'm not sure how helpful it will be to YOU, seeing as I'm just a shadow of the real Freud, but I'd be glad to answer any of your questions." Freud smiled warmly and Evan crawled over to him to peer at his books. "Ahhh…you would like to look at my studies?"

"Well…I might not understand them, but yes."

"Hmm…heh. Well, why don't we start with this one." Freud said, reaching over to a book and dragging it over to the boy. The two began to immerse themselves in the old studies; whether they were Freud's real studies or not, Evan felt a warm and happy sensation at being able to learn from a person like this.

He just wished that he was more sure about handling the ceremony and the elves who he had to convince…


	9. Oil of Reality

Doors to Utopia

Chapter Nine

Oil of Reality

Evan knew he only had a week with this small gathering of people—he wasn't even sure where half of them manifested from. He didn't really care, either; he was just glad for their help. It was in exchange for something so simple and easy, too. The brunette had spent his entire life on a farm so was completely familiar with how to tend to the gardens they had laid out. Some of the vegetables and fruits were entirely unknown to him but the people gave him some tips; all he had to do was utilize what they taught him and what he already knew. It was a surprisingly pleasant experience to hang around these people.

It was especially pleasant to be able to sit down with Freud in the late afternoons. The auburn haired man was exceptionally patient with Evan's lack of knowledge and utter naivety. The child figured he shouldn't be surprised; he HAD been told that Freud was a skilled scholar. He probably had to deal with people like Evan all the time. Evan supposed that an intellectual would HAVE to form a tolerance of the naïve.

Still, the books were kind of interesting. Evan had enjoyed books when he was very, VERY little but had no time for them as he grew older. Freud seemed to be able to take ANY free time for those books and scrolls, and share that time with his unlikely successor. Evan felt rather lucky that this almost impossible encounter could happen—it was painful to remember that this was only a shadow of Freud. He supposed he could never know the real man.

"You don't look very well, Evan." The auburn haired man interrupted his train of thought and Evan looked up. "Are you nervous about those ceremonies still…?"

"A bit." Evan admitted. "I sort of feel like I can't do it on my own. I mean, Kairos will be there, but they can't see Kairos. YOU can't even see Kairos."

"That's true. Which is too bad because I'd love to talk to her. Knowing the mind of one of Rhinne's 'children' could be very interesting." Freud laughed and patted the boy on his brown hair. Evan's frown didn't disappear and the scholar sighed heavily. "Listen. I can help you…in fact, it's probably the best thing to do. But you MUST take charge yourself. I'm only a shadow and I can only do so much. And if Mercedes sees me, I'll cease to exist—any human who is seen by her will."

"She'll kill you?" Evan said nervous. Freud chuckled.

"No, of course not." He replied. "I will simply cease to exist. I'll disappear on the spot because the focus of the dream will be disrupted. If YOU were part of the dream illusion, the same would happen to you if she saw you. But since you are an outside force, she can't completely remove you from this place."

"I see…"

"I want you to look carefully at this book." Freud laid the thick volume on Evan's lap and the boy winced; it was heavy, and it felt like it was cutting the circulation off his legs. It had to be as big as his entire lap. The cover was leather and emblazoned with stylized leaf symbols. The crest so ever-present on Mercedes' clothing was embedded in the middle, a bright topaz stone carved with meticulous precision. "This book was originally written as an elfin text but was eventually translated through the efforts of various scholars. Even back when I was alive, it was an extremely rare book. Only around fifty copies existed, and I doubt any remain nowadays. The book used to be a text of elfin ceremonies dedicated to celebrating their harmony with nature. It was very difficult to get their permission to translate it—it's a very sacred text to them, and they didn't like humans knowing about it."

"But they let humans translate it anyways?"  
Freud chucked. "With quite a bit of persuasion, yes. It took a bit of…ehm, artifact returns, so to say, but they finally allowed us to transcribe it into English. Take a look. The ceremony you'll be intercepting is on page seventy."

Evan flipped through the book carefully; it seemed very delicate. Finally, he stopped at a page that depicted a circle of elves gathers around a large round rock. It was perfect in shape and decorated with vines and red berries. The crest of the Queen was carved on every side and the top was set with what looked to be a blue gem. Evan couldn't quite decide what they were supposed to be. Another picture on the next page showed a similar rock, with a red gem instead of a yellow one. The brunette glanced up at Freud with expectant eyes.

"Each rock has a different colored gem in it to represent its given element. The one on the first page is a sapphire, representing water. The red one is a ruby, representing a fire." Freud explained. "Another rock is set with emerald to represent nature itself—this one is located underground in Eurel, and is where the Queen does her personal ceremony. There are two other rocks, one representing wood and one representing metal. The wood rock is encased in a thick oak shell and the metal rock is encased in pure gold ore. Each rock has a specific blessing—for example, the metal rock blesses the elves with wealth. Each group gathers and goes to the rock that most suits their wishes for the month."

"Wow. That's amazing." Evan marveled. "Do they work?"

"It's mostly ceremony and nothing more. Perhaps they grant luck, perhaps they don't." Freud shut the book. "All we know is that it's a very important ceremony and it will be the time in which the elves will be separated from Mercedes and the Elders. Therefore, it will be a good time to speak with them—to turn them AGAINST this false reality."

"…You know, this job is really mean." Evan said morosely. Freud nodded solemnly.

"It is certainly far from a pleasant job to take. Smashing people's hopes and dreams is never pretty to look at. But sometimes, it has to be done." Freud smiled weakly; he seemed to be struggling with an explanation. "It's all a decision that's up to the person in question—which is better, a false sugarcoated fantasy world, or the true harsh reality around us? Immediately, people will want to go with the former—it's sweeter and easier to take. But that is, unfortunately, just running away from your problems. And you can't run away from your problems forever. They have to be confronted eventually…especially in the case of the problems concerning your four friends."

"I know. It's just kind of hard to want them to hurt like this." Evan mumbled. "Can you really hurt someone and help them at the same time? I mean, when you hurt them trying to help them, you'll just end up giving them another pain. And then you'll break their dreams…you'll take something away from them by hurting them."

"…Come here, Evan." Freud motioned for the boy to come sit next to him on the soft pig furs. Evan nodded and crawled over to Freud's side, sitting down on the man's left side; the scholar patted him on the head encouragingly and held his hand out in front of Evan's. The boy took it, inspecting a long scar that went upwards to the crook of his arm. "Do you see that? It was from an accident that I had when I was very young. Spilled hot oil on myself. Now, do you think I never used oil again?"

"Of course you used it again. There's a light right over there made with oil."

"Exactly. I did it because I wanted to be a balanced adult without complete restraint. I didn't want to be consumed by fear for my entire life—but I also wanted to be safe, and have my dreams." Freud held the boy against his chest comfortingly; Evan sighed. It was like being held by a parent. So encouraging and kind. "The oil was reality. The dream of all people is safety and serenity. But the reality—the oil—hurt, and frightened my child-like self. As I grew, the oil became less frightening. I saw it as a tool to light the way, to cook, to create potions. I created completely new and fantastic potions from it, in fact, and found new potions made by others in reality. All crafted from these painful oils. The point is that reality is scary and it hurts…but it has much more to gain. It can hurt, but it can also be a wonderful thing. In the long run, reality is far more gratifying than living forever in a dream."

"…You're awfully smart."  
"I've been told that." Freud said, releasing the child from his hold. Evan moved away to sit on his feet, expression far more hopeful. "But Evan…some people won't understand that reality is more gratifying. Some people will stubbornly live in their fantasy, whether it hurts them or not. ESPECIALLY when they're being influenced by a spell that causes their conscious itself to be altered."

"I know." Evan replied immediately. Freud raised a brow. The brunette reddened slightly. "I…I guess for a while, I kind of lived in a fake world of my own. B-back when I…before I met everyone…I kind of stubbornly thought that I was doing good for the world even though everything pointed to the opposite. I believed obvious lies so that the fake world could be kept in place…but it broke apart one day."

"And do you think you are in a better state now that the fake world has shattered?" Freud asked calmly.

"…Yes. I feel like I learned an important lesson."

"And that's what reality constantly provides." Freud said comfortingly. He blew out the oil candle. "I think you should get some rest, Evan. You have to go tomorrow afternoon to the rocks. They're fairly close together…and don't worry. I'll be accompanying you. But I won't be doing the work for you."

The next day, the two were trekking through the thick woods with Freud in the lead. Evan was very thankful he had agreed to come; the second the boy had set foot outside of the camp, he knew that he would be lost in a second without a guide. Freud seemed fairly adept in his guidance. He led him through the thick foliage like he was taking a stroll in the park; Evan couldn't figure out how he could possibly be doing this. Freud caught the expression on the boy's face and chuckled.

"Being a scholar isn't all about books, boy." Freud informed him. "Field work is just as important. You have to eventually adjust to trekking through dangerous places like this."

"That's pretty badass."

"Watch your mouth. You're only thirteen."

"S-sorry…" Evan covered his mouth apologetically and hurried up to walk next to his predecessor. Freud used his staff to move a large leaf out of the way and gestured into the small clearing ahead of them. In the center, Evan saw the rock from the book. It was PERFECTLY circular; he had never before called a rock pretty, but this one was gorgeous. It shimmered brightly with dew and the gem at the top glimmered brightly. Around it stood multitudes of elves with their heads bowed.

"Go on." Freud encouraged. The boy stepped out into the clearing with his predecessor behind him. Some of the elves looked up curiously.

"H-hello." Evan said nervously as he stood with his back to the gigantic rock. "What is this rock for?"

"…Plentiful crops." One elf spoke up uncertainly.

"Have you only tasted crops from Ellin Forest?" Evan inquired innocently. The elves looked around at each other in confusion.

"No, we only eat the fresh fruit from Ellin Forest and excellent vegetables of the village garden." The elf replied.

"So you've never had fruits from Leafre? Or foods from El Nath?" Evan inquired. "That sounds monotonous."

"Foods from El Nath?" She asked curiously.

"Mmhmm. I went down there once…uh, before all the humans were dead." Evan added hurriedly. "They made some great food. Red bean buns and warm soups—they privately raise cows. And, of course, prosciutto made from yetis. It's a special kind of cured meat, salty but so good! I had it once during a holiday. It's amazing! But I guess you can't get it if you're always here."

The elves were looking at each other nervously. "Uhm…what else…?"

"Fruits from Leafre are extremely healthy." Freud jumped in. "They can increase your health and are considered a strong brain food. They are extremely potent, and can give you a 100% healthy and safe energy burst. But they can only grow under very specific circumstances. No one has ever succeeded in growing them outside of Leafre."

"Ooh, and I remember going to Ludibrium once and eating something really good! It's a special sweet bread made from crops at the bottom of one of the towns. It was specially cared for by the residents of that town." Evan said excitedly. "It's like a dessert but it's not really unhealthy—it's actually pretty good for you."

"I want some!" An elf child squealed. "How do I get some?!"

"You can't." Freud said pointedly. "The people who made those foods died out a long time ago. Much died out with that virus—it wasn't just humanity, you know. It was a piece of culture as well."

"…I wanted to see that culture." A small but sure voice piped up. Evan smiled brightly as Athena stepped out of the crowd. "I'm not happy trapped here in fantasy land and you people shouldn't be either."

"Athena—" The elf child stopped Evan's words, eye sparking with a bright determination. The wisdom of her true years were shining even brighter than before. He was glad; they could use the help of an insider.

"We are trapped here—and for what? So we can be ignorant of the real world?" Athena declared. The elves were silent. "We consider ourselves the superior species but we isolate ourselves from the outside world and any knowledge that it may provide. Doesn't this make us ignorant rather than superior? We live a fake dream!"

"I'd like to go to Ludibrium sometime." One woman said timidly. Evan smiled broadly.

"Once we get out of here, once this is all fixed...once you aren't FROZEN…" Evan mumbled the last part. "You can all go to places outside of Eurel. I bet you'd ALL like to do that. I bet the other elves at the other rocks would like that too, huh?"

"I know a few." Athena smiled mischievously. Evan bent down next to her and gave her an equally broad smile.

"Why don't you show us, then."


	10. Worldly

Doors to Utopia

Chapter Ten

Worldly

The hoard of elves stood in front of the entrance to Eurel, led by Evan. He has discovered a burst of confidence; this was proceeding with massive success. According to Freud, elves were naturally a curious bunch but had a tendency to crush their natural curiosity under laws and traditions. He also added that eventually, the curiosity tended to win out over the laws and traditions. Evan figured that was why Athena still strayed from Eurel; she loved her traditions but felt affection for the curious world outside of her hometown. The elves following him seemed to see on an equal plain.

Freud had walked next to him and chatted with a taller elfin man. Evan had listened in a bit; his predecessor was trying to suck pearls of information out of the townsfolk. It almost made the boy laugh. Freud was mature and intelligent but very willing to build onto his knowledge. Evan knew from day one that the redhead would NEVER claim to know everything; he had straight out said that no one did. The boy edged towards the older man slightly and looked up to him uneasily. Freud smiled back, but it seemed equally uneasy. The scholar bowed down on one knee next to the boy.

"This is where I'm leaving you, Evan."

"What!" Evan said incredulously.

"I already told you that if Mercedes sees any of the humans that you unconsciously created, the spell will make sure that they are eliminated. Whether I was her ally or not…I count into that equation." Freud sighed. "Besides, it's not like you can do this on your own. You rallied these people just fine."

"But Mercedes will be harder to handle…"

"Mercedes heart ultimately lies within the happiness of her people. It's what she strives for. She joined the Heroes in an attempt to crush a force that would crush her people." Freud explained. "Like any good ruler, she only means the best for her people. Whether it defies her dream or not…well, she made assumptions about the desires of the elves. And I suppose she'll be learning differently. Even though they are loyal, they were bound to not like being dragged completely away from reality."

"You think I can do it?"

"That's what I just said, child." Freud said comfortingly. But his smile slowly formed into a frown at Evan's next question.

"You've been in every dreamland so far. Will you be there in Luminous's dreamworld too?"

"…I'd like to help you, Evan. Don't think I don't want to help you. But I cannot manifest in Luminous' dreamworld." Freud replied morbidly. Before Evan could ask why, the man proceeded. "There is a power there that cancels me out completely. Luminous is infected with the Black Mage's power—and I can assure you that will prevent me from manifesting to assist you. I'd like to help you, but I think this is the last time you'll see me in these dreams."

"What about Phantom?" Evan questioned. Freud laughed bitterly.

"Yeah. Good luck with that." His tone was derisive and unpleasant. The man didn't elaborate; he just stood up with a blank expression. "I wish you the best of luck, and the fondest of goodbyes."

"Yeah…thank you." Evan mumbled. He didn't know what to make of Freud's statements—it didn't bode well for him. The redhead man disappeared past the crowd and out the cave entrance. Slowly, Evan turned back to the entrance to Eurel and stepped forward into the bright light clearing. The town was completely empty at first glance, until Evan caught sight of Phillius and Astilda sitting on the stages jutting from the sacred tree. He glared at the brown haired elf; Phillius paid him no mind at first but flinched when he saw the Eurel citizens emerging from behind the child.

"Good afternoon, Elder." Evan said; he tried to be as courteous as possible. It was simply how he was raised. Phillius stood to his feet to speak but was silenced as his blonde queen emerged from behind the tree. Pink leaves fell into her hair but did not distract from her stern expression. The small woman pushed her Elders out of her way to stand imposingly above the elves and the Dragon Master. To Evan's amazement, his fear of her attitude and belligerence was gone. Freud had tamed the fear.

"It is far too early for your return…" Mercedes' voice betrayed her stern expression; it was timid and upset. Evan figured that would happen to anyone faced with a crowd of determined elves. "Recitals generally take far longer than that…the Elders and I have yet to even finish ours. What is the meaning of this?"

"Your people have something to say to you, your highness." Evan said. He felt filled with a sort of confidence that he had yet to feel in a very long time; the confidence that Hiver and the Black Wings had crushed was restoring itself. "Athena? Step forward. And don't take her by her appearance, Mercedes—we both know who Athena REALLY is. And it isn't this little girl."

"Your highness." Athena stepped forward out of the crowd. Mercedes sat down slowly at her throne. "You know what I shall say. I know I am not a child. I know I have skills beyond what this child's body provides. I know I have knowledge that exceeds what is available in Eurel. And I know there is a world outside of Eurel."

"…Of course there is, Athena." Mercedes said morbidly. "But what has it provided us with? Nothing of value. Just humans and their destructive ways. The Black Mage. Horrible visions and nightmares of so called innovation."

"There is always a flip side." Athena replied. "People have provided us with knowledge as well. They have provided us with help when we allow ourselves to accept it. They have provided us with expansive culture, and delicacy from world round. We trap ourselves in a bubble, your highness, and we cannot live in it forever!"

The crowd mumbled in agreement. Mercedes sat back on his throne, impatiently tapping her fingers on the armrest. Her expression was stubborn but extremely conflicted as she looked around her people. Evan was silent as he watched the woman think, mind full of both expectation and desperation. He truly wished they'd pay off but he knew he couldn't speak the opinion of the people. It was up to both them and Mercedes. Finally, Mercedes sighed and shook her head. The boy's heart plummeted.

"Is that truly what you all want? Interaction with the humans and interaction with the outside world?" Mercedes asked. "It's dangerous out there. You all know it. Do you truly wish to mingle with such a dangerous world?"

The elves looked around at each other; their expressions were turning hesitant. Evan's confidence was quickly fading away until Athena grabbed his elbow to push his hand above his head. The boy looked incredulously at her but trusted the girl's judgment; Athena held high respect in Henesys, and it didn't disappear from him even when she was six years old in this world.

"This boy has told us of wonders! Do you not want those wonders?" Athena shouted. The elves looked more hopeful at her words. Mercedes' hands tapped faster and harder against the wood of her throne armrest.

"Mercedes is right." Evan spoke up suddenly. Athena looked incredulously at him and Mercedes raised a brow. "The world outside of Eurel is dangerous. It's scary, and bad people are around every corner. But that's why we have judgment and the ability to tell when something bad might happen. We have things that are around to HELP us from ending up in a dangerous situation. We have things that are around to guide us to the good and help us LEARN from our mistakes. Yeah, stuff is dangerous and mean people will hurt you. But…that the world. You take the good with the bad because you can't have a world with just one."

"…Speak, my people." Mercedes said quietly. "What do you think of his words? What do you feel about Athena's words?"

"I want to go to the outside world." One woman spoke up determinedly. The elves around her began to nod in agreement, determined smiles spreading across their faces. "I want to explore their culture and find out what these people are really about. I want to learn about the foods I can make with their new ingredients."

"…Hrrmmh…" Mercedes sighed irately. "…Evan. I'm rather impressed."

"Oh? Why?"

"You are smarter than I thought." She said calmly. "Going to my people to find their opinion…it is certainly a strong weapon to use against me. I am weak against my people…but I suppose I have made that clear to my human allies. I will sacrifice anything, including my own happiness, for these elves. It was awfully clever of you to go this route. I don't know how you did it…but it is certainly impressive."

"…Let's just say it was a blast of realization from, uh…the past, I guess." Evan said timidly. Mercedes laughed, although her face showed a tad flavor of confusion. She stepped down from throne and held her hands out; Phillius and Astilda stood beside her. Slowly they chanted and the elves around them slowly disappeared. Their souls flew back to their true bodies in their real world. Evan smiled as Athena's hand disappeared from his elbow. She was going home to Henesys.

"Let's go, Evan." Mercedes said as she strode over to the boy. Her tone was commanding but kinder than before. The boy nodded jubilantly and pulled Kairos from out of his shirt. The sleeping woman kicked a bit as he shook her. Mercedes looked at the boy calmly; Evan knew she couldn't see Kairos, but was well aware of Kairos' existence.

"K-Kairos…uh, sorry…" He said apologetically. The miniature creature shot him a disapproving look. "Could you take us back to the Temple of Time? Mercedes has agreed to come home. She wants to be with her people."

"You could at least be courteous about it." Kairos snorted, but lifted her tiny fingers in the air. Immediately, the world began to crash around them; Evan were left standing at the shattered remains of the door while Mercedes' body twitched a little to signify her conscious returning. Evan was greeted with Rhinne's smiling face and Aran's cold expression. Evan perked up.

"You're awake!" He cried. Aran nodded solemnly, though she didn't rise from her seated position. Evan figured the woman was tired.

"I see you rescued the elf."

"Yeah. It was kind of difficult. I ran into some big problems." Evan said sheepishly. "But…I ran into some encouraging faces, you know?"

"I can imagine." Aran said quietly. Rhinne cast a glance at the woman's face but didn't interrupt. She knew that Evan had business to attend to but it was obvious that the tan woman was hurting a bit, even if she wouldn't show it. Their duty here was to help the Heroes, but helping them was bound to hurt them. Rhinne knew that made it their duty to comfort them as well.

"Aran, are you alright? I'm really sorry…" Evan began but the woman shook her head.

"Don't be. You did the right thing. Even if it shattered this dream of mine." Aran sighed. "I won't lie. It hurts. I enjoyed having what appeared to be true memories. But I can't imagine it as true happiness. It was fake. Those weren't my memories. It was made up of fragments of what I assumed to be true and fragments of what I've been told. That's no dream world; it's a nightmare pretending to be happiness."

"…It's okay to miss it."

"…I know." Aran said softly. "I know. But you still did the right thing. I can only be sorry for what my dream did to you."

"…Oh. Oh! No, it's fine!" Evan reddened visibly. "I…I mean, you were trying to cobble me into your dream. It was the spell, not y-you…! Buh…but, I don't mean that I'm not flattered! Oh geez, I'm doing bad here…!"

"It's fine, Evan." Aran smiled. It was one of the first times Evan had ever seen it, and it was surprisingly warm. Normally when she smiled, it was full of determination and confidence. This smile was less guarded and more soft. More…friendly. Sucking in his breath, Evan strode forward and plopped down in front of the woman. She raised an eyebrow. Quickly, so he wouldn't lose confidence, Evan wrapped his arms around Aran's neck and held the warrior against him. Her eyes immediately went wide as her fingers dug into his skin. But she quickly calmed.

"It's all fine, okay?" Evan said. "You'll get your real memories eventually. I'm still a friend. You treated me like one when you were a kid in your dream, and I want to be your friend in real life too. But, uh, not really a…uhm, Kada."

Aran finally laughed. "No. Not a Kada. A helpful and good friend sounds good to me."

He let go and sat back. Rhinne stepped forward solemnly.

"It is time for this to get even harder, Evan."


	11. Strength of the Family

Doors to Utopia

Chapter Eleven

Strength of the Family

"She's right, you know." Evan looked over in surprise; Mercedes had already risen to a seated position and was staring over the clouds. Aran leaned against one of the pillars with an expectant look on her face. She knew about as much about Luminous as Evan did. The man had always been a bit of a distant enigma to even the Heroes who could remember him. "About Luminous being difficult."

"I know. You two weren't exactly walks in the park yourself." Evan reminded the elf. The woman flushed, embarrassed at having to recall her own atrocious behavior. "What should I watch out for?"

"…I don't know. Luminous isn't a person who shares his desires and secrets with anyone. And considering that he…well…" Mercedes hesitated. "Considering his CONDITION, this could be very dangerous."

"I believe he's quite capable of it." Aran interrupted, her tone stern. Evan looked to the woman in amazement. "He dragged you and me out and we aren't exactly the biggest pushovers you'll find. Leave the boy be. Rhinne said he's the one who has to do the job so he will do the job."

"…You have a lot of sudden faith." Mercedes said suspiciously. Aran shrugged nonchalantly.

"The child has won my support through his efforts. I would have thought that saving your ass from your arrogant fantasy would have helped him win your support too." Aran said snidely. Mercedes hissed under her breath but said nothing further. "Evan, you must do what is necessary. Go to the next door."

Kairos poked her head out of Evan's shirt again, giggling slightly. Pulling on Evan's ear, she annoyed the boy into turning towards the next door. It was made out of two types of stone, one being a shining marble and another that was bright obsidian. Two dual ended rods crossed across each other in the center but the rest of the door was completely free of carvings. It seemed so plain compared to Aran and Mercedes doors. Evan shivered at that thought. A person who was more closed up than Aran. This was certainly going to be a challenge indeed.

But his nerves calmed when he stepped out past the door. Looking around, Evan couldn't help but smile brightly at the chirping birds. He was back in Ellin Forest—except now, it was in his own time where the massive trees were tamer and the weather was not as soaking wet. A time in which he didn't have to be afraid of the monsters roaming around. All that was around here were harmless modern slimes and bubblings.

Evan looked around; he couldn't see any people despite this fantasy being set in his present day. The boy shrugged as he trekked through the forest. He was just happy to know that he wouldn't be attacked by another wild pig. This place at least looked completely peaceful; Ellinia always really had. Evan could in no way blame Luminous for picking this place as the setting for his dream world.

Kairos didn't seem as sure; she was quivering inside Evan's pocket. "I don't like this world, Evan. There's something horrible hovering over it, just WAITING to invade and destroy…please, let's just…"

"Calm down, Kairos." Evan soothed. But he realized that he was also feeling the foreboding horror; something WAS wrong with this world beyond its fakeness. He just couldn't figure it out—and it apparently wasn't going to get in easily. He told himself to focus on his goal instead of getting distracted by outside elements. It was fairly difficult; everything about this peaceful world was distracting.

"Look…" The tiny woman pointed forward. Evan followed her gaze to a pleasant looking little cottage situated under a canopy of leaves. A long vine reached out from inside and a pot at the very top caught water and dumped it down a flow through the house. Evan smiled; perhaps it was some sort of conservation system? It was an awfully cute house, to say the least. "This place is…"

"I think it's her house." Evan replied immediately. "Uh, Lania. The girl that Luminous talks about once in a while. I don't think he likes talking about her to us. Something about putting her in danger…he really doesn't trust us very much, but I guess with a little girl you gotta be a bit careful…"

"Especially when they're so small and adorable."

"Uh, how do you know she's—"

"Oh dear me, Evan. Just look." Kairos sighed. Evan gazed back to the cottage to see a small girl around his age. She had straw colored hair tied in a braid that tumbled down her back, tied at the bottom with a bright red bow. Her brown and white dress cut off a little bit below her ankles and she wore a tiny white apron. Large, poorly fitting brown boots made her walk a bit clumsy. Her blue eyes were full of warmth, happiness, and determination while her arms were full of flowers. A small white cat with wings trotted at her feet.

Kairos was right. The little girl was absolutely adorable.

"So that's Lania…" Evan mused. He could see why Luminous was so protective about her. While cute as a button, Lania also looked very delicate and overly innocent. She was humming a sweet little tune under her breath and planting rich golden flowers in the yard; everything about her screamed that she was utterly naïve but well meaning. Evan could easily look on this little girl and see what he had been two years earlier.

It kind of hurt to watch.

Evan quietly walked up to the little girl and bent down next to her in the dirt. Lania continued to hum her pleasant little tune and pat the soft soil around her new plants. Her cat curled down next to them with a contented purr. It was difficult for the boy's heart to not ache with just how adorable they were.

"Uhm, hi. My name is Evan…I'm a friend…" Evan hesitated. "…acquaintance of Luminous. Could you tell me where he is?"

To his shock, the girl ignored him.

"Eh, miss? Hello?" Evan asked in bemusement. Lania continued to ignore him and picked up her cat, striding over to her door. Evan pursued her in confusion.

The inside of the house was just as welcoming and cute inside. Water trickled down from the ceiling into a bucket. The bright green vine reflected into it; it was crisp and healthy from a combination of mother nature's care and the care of Lania. A fireplace, below a cuckoo clock, crackled welcomingly beyond the vine and its golden flowers. Lania herself set the remaining flowers down next to a wooden table and drew the purple blinds.

"Excuse me, Miss Lania, I don't mean to be invasive but I really need to talk to you." Evan tried again. Lania still paid him no mind. The boy hadn't expected this cute and friendly looking girl to be so unfriendly.

His spirits rose when she turned to look straight at him with sparkling and happy eyes. They fell again when he caught Kairos' heavy face; the woman was shaking her head in disappointment. Clearly, the little fairy woman knew something that the boy did not and it was starting to drive Evan insane.

"Lumi! You're back already!" She said. Her voice was just as sweet and full of honey as Evan had expected. The boy himself turned to look where Lania was looking.

Luminous seemed to be exactly the same—he wore his same clothing but did not wield his weapon. Instead, his arms were full of firewood that he dumped next to the dying fireplace. Lania leaned down next to the man to help shove some new logs into the fire; it roared back to life and she clapped her little hands. As they stood up, Evan gasped; he could see Luminous' face in full now, and it was obvious to him that something was very off.

Both his eyes were blue.

Evan had been told at one point that Luminous had not been cursed with heterochromia. He had been told that the conflicting colors were a product of the Black Mage's curse. Which, he realized, made sense; of course Luminous wouldn't have those eyes in his utopia. He wouldn't have the curse at ALL in his utopia. Evan was actually fairly amazed at how the spell had completely eliminated Luminous' curse from his conscious—it was (probably only barely) detracting from the Black Mage's curse.

And Evan didn't know much about this girl Lania, but she seemed to make Luminous pretty happy. He seemed to be very protective of the little girl as he quickly moved her away from the fire the second it began to spark. The dual haired man patted the blonde hair then picked her up by the armpits, sitting her over at the wooden table. She giggled happily, kicking her legs back and forth.

It was rather like watching a parent tend to his child. Evan almost laughed; THIS was Luminous' utopia? It sure wasn't what the boy expected. He had expected something less…housewifey. Evan was trying to not laugh but it was very hard while watching a grown HERO acting like a parent to an orphan child.

But he didn't have time for this.

"Excuse me, I hate to interrupt, but we really need to talk." Evan walked up to the table and put his hands on it. Luminous and Lania didn't look up; the girl was reading and Luminous just plain out was ignoring Evan. The brunette furrowed his brow; this was ridiculous. How could they ignore him so much?

"Uhm, Evan—"

"EXCUSE me? Are you two listening?" Evan demanded.

"EVAN!" Kairos yelled. The boy looked at the little fairy in confusion.

"What? What is it?"

"Evan, I…" The little woman hesitated. "…I don't think they can hear you. I…don't think they can see you either."

"W-what…?"

"The strength of Luminous' dream, I'm afraid, has completely blocked you from sound and sight."


	12. Dual Doors

Doors to Utopia

Chapter Twelve

Dual Doors

"WHAT?!" Mercedes said incredulously. Evan sat in front of her with his head bowed while Aran and Rhinne looked at him in amazement. The boy returning through Luminous' door without Luminous returning to their world was…troubling. Immediately his fellow Heroes had swarmed him and Kairos and they were certainly not pleased to hear the reason that Evan couldn't influence Luminous' world.

"That dream is far stronger than I thought it would be." Rhinne mused. "I didn't think it would be possible for him to shun you completely out of existence. It's a good thing you got out so quickly. Staying in that dream for too long might have risked your very existence. The spell could have faded your conscious out completely. And we certainly can't have that."

"N-no! We definitely can't!" Evan cried.

"I didn't think he'd be this determined!" Mercedes slumped down and shook her head. "Then again, I don't know much about Luminous. But he always seemed to be one of the more rational members of our team. He never seemed like the type of person who would fall so deeply into an illusion! What the hell was so great about it? I mean, it would have to be one god damn beautiful dream to completely entrap him."

"It was…him and Lania. Living in that forest cottage that he told us about." Evan informed the elf. The look that crossed Mercedes' face could only be described as complete pity. "It was like a super happy family. And, uh, his eyes were both blue. He was free of his curse…"

"Of course." Aran interrupted. "What else would Luminous wish for? That curse is the bane of his life. He wishes nothing more than to be completely rid of it. I suppose I should have also figured he would include the little girl in his illusion. We've all heard the way he talks about her. It's like listening to a parent preen over their child."

"It was a very peaceful place." Evan admitted quietly. "I can see why he'd do anything to defend it…"

"I'm sure it was. It MUST have been to make Luminous completely toss aside his rational side." Mercedes said desperately. "Oh dear, I'm not sure what we should do here…if he can't see you or speak with you, then you can't influence this dream at ALL. Could you speak with Lania?"

"No. She ignored me."

"Damn…" Mercedes shook her head. "This is a serious problem. Miss Rhinne, could you provide some insight…?"

"There isn't much I can say, really." Rhinne admitted. Both Mercedes and Evan's faces fell immediately. "Well, if he can't see you then you can't fix the problem. It's as simple as that. Unless we think of a backdoor—"

"The curse." Evan said suddenly. His tone was unsure, almost scared.

"Excuse me?" Rhinne said. Mercedes was sending confused looks between the Goddess and the dragon master. Aran, however, just narrowed her eyes. She seemed to be content with dwelling in silence, however.

"Well…I mean, I…" Evan stuttered.

"Speak up, boy." Aran said sternly. "You have an idea. We both know you do. And we can't judge its worth if you don't say it."

Evan sucked in his breath, trying to will back some courage.

"I was thinking that its possible we could get in contact with the dark half of Luminous' curse instead of his light half." Evan spat out quickly. Rhinne's eyes grew wide and Mercedes placed one hand over her mouth. "I…I mean, think about it. They're almost completely separate entities when it comes to their goals. Luminous wants this happy little life with Lania and the other half wants…well, probably something horrible."

"So your goal is to trend into the dark half and drag him out, efficiently forcing the light half out as well." Aran shook her head. "That isn't how it works, Evan."

"Huh?"

"Rhinne, you're the expert on this. Take it away."

"…Well, you see, Luminous' dark half and light half are technically the same soul." Rhinne explained. "But they are also polar opposites—if your theory is correct and the dark half also received a personal 'utopia', than dragging the dark half out will only destroy HALF of the dream. The light half will remain in the dream world. Which would bode VERY badly for our real world."

"How so?" Evan said, bemused.

"Evan, if we only dragged the dark half out…what would become of the consciousness within the real world Luminous?" Rhinne asked. Evan just sent here a dumb look. She sighed. "The dark half would completely inhabit Luminous' mind and wreak havoc on the world…as the curse intended."

"So if we release only the light half, will Luminous' curse be removed?" Mercedes asked in excitement.

"I can't assure you of anything. I seriously doubt it." Rhinne replied. "The dark half is likely aware that it is dealing with black mage here—Arkarium's magic. He's perfectly content to dwell within a fantasy world. But if the light half escapes, the dark half will no doubt pursue him. It's entirely possible that the dark half can't even leave without the consent of the light half—after all, the light half is the original half and is therefore the dominant personality."

"So I have to pull Luminous out through the dream I can't be seen in." Evan slumped a bit. "You know, I might be feeling a little more competent, but I can't do that. It's impossible."

"…Well…" Rhinne hesitated. "I…I am not saying your idea isn't completely without merit…"

"Huh?"

"Well…there is merit to confronting the dark half instead of the light half." Rhinne said begrudgingly. "If you were to confront the dark half, you could…well, it's mean spirited, but you could try and convince the dark half to help you drag the light half back into reality. It won't be pretty, though…"

"That sounds horrible…" Mercedes whispered.

"It does sound awfully cruel." Aran added in. Evan was shocked; it wasn't like Aran to express that she felt bad for another person. Not even if that other person was her ally. Evan figured she'd call it tough love. "Are you sure this is the best solution? Not only does it sound mean spirited, it also…well, it also sounds very dangerous."

"She's right." Mercedes cut in. "Luminous' dark half is extremely cruel and bad tempered. He might just kill Evan on sight."

"He kind of seems like the type to enjoy torturing his victims so I doubt it would be on sight." Aran replied. Evan paled a bit.

"…That's true…" Mercedes said slowly. No one was particularly comforted by Aran's statement but they knew it was true. Luminous' dark half was utterly vicious. The light half generally trumped the dark half when it came to morality decisions, but Evan realized that in a dream world that the light half would have no say in the decision. It would be entirely in the court of Luminous' curse.

And Evan was entirely sure that he did not trust that curse.

Rhinne caught the expression. "It's a dangerous task, Evan, and you'll have to face it without Mir." The dragon hissed visibly at this. "You will be completely defenseless; only Kairos will have skills to fight, and her skills are very minor. Basically…if you choose to dare this road, you will be leaving yourself in the hand of this curse. You will be leaving yourself in the hands of that which is the Black Mage's powers manifested into a visible form."

"I'll be at the mercy of the Black Mage."

"You may as well be." Rhinne sighed. Evan shivered. He started a bit when a warmth came over him; the boy reached up to feel at the soft fur now on his shoulders. Aran stood above him with a blank expression, placing her cape onto his shoulders. Evan smiled weakly. He was happy to see SOME vote of confidence. He tightened the cape onto his shoulders and noted dismally that it dragged quite a bit on the ground. Luckily, the warrior woman didn't seem to pay it mind.

"I want Luminous to come back to our world." She stated. "But I also want to know how dangerous this is for Evan."

"On a scale of one to ten? I'd say a ten." Rhinne answered immediately.

"…It doesn't matter how dangerous it is." All three women looked incredulously at the small boy; Evan was staring down at the ground blankly. He didn't want to look any of them in the eye. He didn't want an excuse to give up, and he didn't want to let himself be babied. "This is my job, isn't it? I agreed to help all the Heroes out of their delusion. And that means ALL of them. None of you can do this and you know it. I…don't mean any offense, but Rhinne already told me that only I can do this. And I can't leave ANY of my allies in their little fantasy land…it's not good for them and it's not good for the Heroes."

"…So you're really willing to step into Hell to bring all the Heroes back into reality?" Rhinne asked quietly. Evan nodded.

"If I needed to than I would step into Hell four times to recover each one of my allies. The Heroes have always been five and I can't let it be my fault for that number to drop." Evan wrapped Aran's cape around himself tighter—he was still very scared, and the warm fur was comforting. The boy could see why she wore the silly thing.

"You are a highly brave child." Rhinne commented. Mercedes shook her head sagely but Aran just stood there. She was allowing her gift to talk for her. Evan smiled; it spoke louder than any headshake or confident comment could. "But I'm honestly quite glad that you're willing to do this. I think it's the only way to recover that poor man."

"You won't be calling him a poor man soon." Mercedes muttered. Evan cringed. He was trying desperately to forget how insanely dangerous and risky this idea was.

"Follow me." Rhinne said gently as she led him around the doors. Aran and Mercedes stubbornly followed them. To Evan's surprise, he found that the other side of Luminous' door had a completely different design on it. It was completely black with scratches and chips all over it. There was no design. Just those foreboding scratches and chips. "This, Evan, is the door of the dark half. I cannot guarantee what you will find beyond it."

"I'm not sure if I want a forewarning." Evan said uneasily. And he really didn't. The door design alone spoke of death and destruction. He rather felt as if he'd die just from touching the sharp obsidian. His hand reached out and rested against the opening but Mercedes reached out and grabbed his wrist before he could. She turned him to face her as she gave the boy a sympathetic smile.

"If Aran and I could go—"

"Then you would. I know. Trust me, I know." Evan smiled at both of the Hero women. "I don't think that I could EVER believe that any of you would leave me behind. But, ya'know…only I can go into these dreams."

"…Look." Mercedes unstrapped one of her bowguns from her hip and handed it to Evan. "This is loaded with soul arrows. They are infinite and pack an extreme punch. I want you to take this with you. I EXPECT IT BACK, but for now I want you to defend yourself with it. I know that archery isn't really your thing but at least it's some sort of defense. And I think that's enough to make both Aran and I feel more comfortable with this."

"T-thanks…" Evan said uncertainly as he attached the weapon to his belt. He'd never used a bowgun in his life so he wasn't sure how useful it would be…but it was the thought that counted.

"There. Now you have the spirit of two Heroes on your side! Strong ladies like Aran and I!" Mercedes chuckled and patted his back, pushing him towards the hot obsidian door. "Now go."  
Evan swallowed deeply and turned to the door, pushing it open and stepping through.


	13. Dark Crescendo

Doors to Utopia

Chapter Thirteen

Dark Crescendo

It was horrifying.

Of course Evan hadn't expected anything less from Luminous' dark half, but once he was faced with it, the boy was strongly overcome with an urge to turn and flee. Walking through the dream 'utopia' of this darker side that lay within his ally was like walking through a nightmare come to life. Evan had to calm his breathing; he was close to hyperventilating. And he certainly didn't want to draw attention to himself. Not yet.

The landscape he was faced with was barren and dead. Half dead trees lay around the scenery, burnt into a nearly unrecognizable state. The soil beneath Evan's feet could best be described as hard, cracked, and unusable. The sky was clouded with dark smoke that swirled eerily. Patches of dark purple sky could be seen from behind them. In the distance, Evan could see the shattered remains of a house that had fallen from the trees. With horror, he realized he was standing where Ellinia Forest was supposed to be.

The dark half had completely eradicated the lush landscape and trees of the rich forest. Evan placed a hand over his mouth but continued forward. The further he got in, the more he saw empty and destroyed homes. They were devoid of life. If you could call that. There were vague signs of long past occupation.

For example, the dismembered limbs lying around erratically.

Evan was utterly terrified. He knew he should have expected something horrible, but this place reeked of death and destruction. Kairos was clinging to his neck in horror; he couldn't blame the little woman. Being such a small creature in such a dangerous looking world was probably far more terrifying than being a boy his size. Evan shook his head and forced himself to walk forward. Luminous' dark half had to be around here SOMEWHERE…

He had to stop, though, as he reached an area where the stench of blood was unbearable. Evan stumbled back and fell over as he clutched at his nose. He had never encountered ANYTHING like this; the Blackwings had done some cruel things, but never something that genuinely almost brought him to vomit.

The boy couldn't control himself once he rounded the next corner, though. He screamed in horror at the pile of dead bodies in the middle of what had once been Ellinia. It was enourmous—people from all around Victoria Island lay dead in the blood crusted pile. Some of the bodies looked fresher, but most were in a state of decay. He could see their cracked white skulls through the broken patches of hair and skin.

He backed away; oh, this had been a bad idea. This had been an absolutely awful idea. There was only one person in this dream who could do this and it was the very person Evan was seeking out. And Evan knew at exactly that second that the person he was seeking out would not hesitate to kill him on sight. He had seen Luminous' dark half in action but he hadn't realized it was THIS bad…

_He must have been stopped by the light half…_ Evan thought in despair. _But…the light half isn't here to stop him. I'm playing in HIS territory now. Oh God, I'm dead. I'm so dead._

"Why do you trend my ground?"

Evan screamed and pressed his back against the burnt remains of a tree. His wide blue eyes shot around in fear as his fingers dug into the black bark behind him. Of course he recognized that voice; all the Heroes knew it, and they all dreaded it. That gravelly, cruel, smug tone that belonged to the nightmare that was impossible to contain. Evan found it was even worse when he couldn't tell where the dark half was.

"Hilarious." Evan's hands dug deeper into the bark as Luminous burst into sight in front of him, a pair of floating dark wings covering his body and mouth. This was the dark half as none of the Heroes had ever seen it; clad entirely in black with matching hair. The normally blue tinge at the bottom of his hair was now a striking red. Both of his eyes were now a vicious, inspecting red.

"H…huh…hello…" Evan stuttered. Luminous—if he could even be called that—laughed harshly. "A-are you…the dark half…?"

"Of the pansy?" The dark half chuckled. "Oh yes. I'm Luminous' little friend, that nasty little voice in his head that taunts and begs for control. THREATENS for control, threatens all he holds dear, threatens the darling little girl…oh yes. I am Luminous' dark half. And you are?"

"I'm—"

"Hrrmph. You look like the moron scholar. We never liked him—too smug." Luminous snorted. "But I can tell from your face and your height that you aren't. You're just a CHILD. It was extremely unwise to send a child into my realm. So who was the idiot who decided that this was a good idea?"

"U-uhm, I did." Evan said shamefully.

"…Heh. Figures. It WOULD take the stupidity of a child to trek into my realm." The dark half laughed hoarsely. "Pathetic. You don't even know the kind of mistake you made. You don't even know what you face, child."

"E-Evan. My name is Evan." The boy mumbled. He was too scared to speak up; the clear fright made the dark half smile wider and show sharp teeth. The dark wings blew away from his chest and sent out a shockwave of wind that cut at Evan's delicate skin. The boy placed a finger on his face; it was bleeding. He paled.

"I don't want your name, child. I want you out."

"I…I can't go. I have something to do here, Lum…" Evan paused. The dark half raised an eyebrow curiously. "…I'm sorry. I can't call you Luminous. You aren't Luminous. You're some sort of messed up disease that Luminous got saddled with. Could…could you possibly give me a different name to call you by?"

"…Ha. Oh, just…ha. Ahaha…HA!" Luminous leaned forward to press his forehead against the ground to conceal his apparent amusement. Evan frowned visibly; the expression turned back to fear when the dark half looked up to him with a feral, amused expression. "You've got guts, child. Either that, or you are very stupid. Most people wouldn't make such a stupid request…most people would be running by now. Somehow, I think this isn't about bravery. I think you're just a rather dumb kid led by the will of others. Someone TOLD you to come help your little friends, DIDN'T they?"

"I…it was a suggestion!" Evan snapped.

"HA! Pathetic. You're just a kid stuck in an adult's world. You really should just leave this world and GO HOME. But you won't. So DESPERATE for acceptance." The dark half taunted. "Heh…if you INSIST…than call me Eclipse. I have no need to be called by that stupid other name anyhow. The pansy-ass can have his stupid name."

Evan tried to keep all expression off his face, even fear. But he was hit with a small twinge of annoyance; this so called dark half was awfully IMMATURE. Eclipse really seemed to talk like a child, calling his lighter half's actions to be stupid…Evan knew he couldn't say anything about it. Even if Eclipse acted like a child, he was still a child with a psychotic mind and extreme powers.

"So…this is your world." Evan said weakly. Eclipse nodded; he seemed very proud of

himself. It was kind of disgusting. "It's not very pretty."

"I think it's wonderful." Eclipse said lazily. "But of course I do. It's MY dream world. Why wouldn't I think it's wonderful? I wouldn't expect a child like you to understand and enjoy this kind of beauty. It's the kind of beauty that only a mind like mine can understand. Yours just isn't up to par with mine, I'm afraid."

"Hey! Dreams are subjective!" Evan yelled, then covered his mouth in fear. Eclipse smirked and motioned for the boy to continue. "I…I mean, one person's dream come true could be another's nightmare. This one definitely is not the dream come true of most people. Most people don't dream of a place full of death and decay. And that's definitely what this place is."

"I like it." Eclipse said simply. "I plan on staying here forever."  
"…You can't do that." Evan said, his face growing serious.

"And who's going to stop me? The thirteen year old boy?" Eclipse chuckled. "Give me a break, kid. I don't believe for a second that you could pose a challenge to me. You're small, stupid, and probably don't even know how to use that weapon at your side. You can't threaten me—we both know I'm stronger."

"…That's true." Evan admitted, forlorn. "But you know…this isn't reality. Which I'm pretty sure you ARE aware of. Is a fake reality better than reali—"

"Don't preach to me, brat." Eclipse snapped nastily. "I don't take kindly to it. Tell me your reason for invading this place, and get the fuck out."

"…We need your help. The Heroes, I mean. Me, Mercedes, and Aran." Eclipse looked like he wanted to say something but Evan continued before he could. The boy didn't have time to get screamed at. "We need to get Luminous out of his illusion. He's created a dream world so strong that outsiders can't even be seen. There's no way that he can be dragged out like Mercedes and Aran were. Not if he can't be talked to."

"So you want MY help with this?" Eclipse looked highly amused as he played with a bone on the ground. He was a drawing a picture, if it could be called that; it was more like the erratic scratches of a madman. "Heh. Are you really THIS stupid, child? I mean, you LOOK stupid enough but when you talk you just make it worse. There's no reason for ME to help HIM. HE is the one who tries to contain me and rid of me. HE is the one who runs the little sideshow we like to call our mind. So riddle me this, boy…why would I want to help free someone that I irrevocably HATE?"

"…You wouldn't, but reali—"

"I SAID save your PREACHING, boy." Eclipse hissing, throwing the bone at Evan's head. It hit spot on his forehead and left a bleeding mark. Evan winced. He didn't know how much longer he could keep this up. "Get to the POINT. If you don't care to do so, then so help me God I will kill you right fucking now."

He was entirely serious, Evan knew. But something seemed completely off about Eclipse's attitude. Evan remembered the few times that the dark half had dominated Luminous' conscious—he had never acted this immature. Certainly, he was cruel and destructive and didn't care if he killed all the Heroes…but this kind of immaturity was off the charts even for Eclipse. Evan watched carefully as the dark haired beast got up and kicked a rock into a tree. He was clearly grimacing.

"…You AREN'T happy here, are you." Evan said quietly. Eclipse froze and glared at the boy out of the corner of his eyes. "You aren't. I can tell. You're acting angry and immature. It's because this isn't what you want. Why are you willing to trap yourself in this place, even when it isn't what you want? What DO you want?"

"…I want this to be the real world, of course." Eclipse grinned dangerously. "I want to see these people, dead and suffering, in reality. I want to look upon the REAL world and know that I have the most power because I will be the ONLY power. This power here…what a lie! I want to inflict this on the world YOU live in. Wouldn't that be just WONDERFUL, child? Aren't you glad you asked?"

Evan's blank expression didn't change in the slightest; Eclipse frowned and kicked a rock at the boy's shin. Evan collapsed but still didn't wipe the determination from his face. "Don't look at me like that, you stupid little fucker!"

"Why?"

"The fuck do you mean?!"

"Why?!" Evan yelled back. Eclipse flinched. "Why the hell would you trap yourself in here even though it doesn't give you what you actually want?! What do you stand to gain, huh?!"

Eclipse was silent.

"SAY IT!"

"FINE!" Eclipse's face twisted into a deranged smile. "I want to keep him trapped FOREVER. I want to put him under the idea that I am forever gone—I'll give him as long as it takes, until you all are GONE. Then, once the world lies in destruction, I will release him. And that pansy ass fucker will feel what it really means to have NO CONTROL, to sit in a complacent state as he stares at a wall!"

"…So you do this to spite Luminous."

"Of course I do." Eclipse spat. "I want him gone. I want him DEAD. But first, I want him to suffer for being the dominant personality. I want him to suffer for being my jailkeeper. My magic could easily overwhelm Arkarium's. So he'll know that I did this to him. That I was the true jailkeeper all along. When he emerges from his dream, it will be when I tell him to. And it will be at the perfect time."

"But you stand to gain nothing."

"What?! I just told you what I would gain—"

"No. You wouldn't get nothin'." Evan snapped. Eclipse growled as his weapon appeared. "You wouldn't get anything! You'd spend just as long as he does in here. You think you'd be jailing Luminous—and how? By jailing YOURSELF? You'll suffer just as much as him, if not MORE because you'll spend years knowing that you're living in a fake world! You think that jailing your light side is going to get you some sort of revenge? Don't be stupid! You'll get nothing. You'll come out worse than he does!"

"You little FUCKER." Eclipse growled.

"WAIT!" Evan screeched, grabbing at the bowgun at his side. He aimed it carefully but his arm shook wildly. "I-if you g-go now…a-and wake Luminous up, you could…"

"…I could…?" Eclipse encouraged the boy on. He already knew what Evan was going to say. Evan hesitated; he didn't want to go down this path. It was the cruelest path he could think of. But he didn't have a choice at this point. He had to hand the game over to Eclipse and hope he wouldn't COMPLETELY wreck Luminous.

"Y-you could…break him…out of his dream." Evan said quietly. Eclipse motioned for him to continue. "I-if you did that…I-I mean…he thinks that place is completely real. Just like Aran did. Just like Phantom probably does. It's his perfect utopia…if you go in there right now, you can…c-can…shatter it. You can shatter it. Instant gratification. And you'll be free of your own prison. You can fight Luminous back in reality and if you take control…you can make your sick little fantasy land into a real land."

"…And do you believe, child, that I COULD take control?" Eclipse said spitefully. Evan's hands shook harder.

"N-no. I don't think you can. But that's just my opinion, and I don't WANT you to take Luminous over so I'm biased." Evan stuttered. Thankfully, Eclipse's weapon had disappeared. "B-but…you won't win anything by staying in here. You'll just watch everything pass by and achieve nothing."

"…You don't mean a word of what you say, child…but I take investment in it. You may not think I can do it but I do." Eclipse smirked. "And that's all that matters, right? All that 'believe in yourself' bullshit, right?"

"R-r-r-right…" Evan stuttered.

"Ahahah…stupid child. Alright. You get your way. I'll help you free the pansy ass…" Eclipse said eerily. "…and I'll make him suffer for it."

Evan shivered.


	14. Equilibrium

Chapter Fourteen

Equilibrium

The little blonde girl was setting a steaming bowl of soup down on the table. She dipped the ladle into the white mix, testing it against her mouth. Clapping her hands, Lania began to pour it into two small bowls. Luminous decided to not object when the girl poured the chunky soup into Penny's food bowl; the cat seemed to like the taste and it didn't seem to do her any harm. Lania turned with a smile and set the soup down in front of him. Rushing to the other side of the wooden table, she clapped her hands again and began to dig into the mix. It was of course delicious; Lania had always been a talented chef. She was a girl with high hopes for her future, but a decidedly naïve outlook.

Luminous frowned. Something about that train of thought was more bothersome than he figured it should be. There was really no reason to rush her to stop her outlook; at the moment, in their lives, there was no threat or conflict. He sighed, finishing off the last of the chucky white soup. It was silly to think further of it; he had to help the little girl with the dishes. Lania was clumsy at times and Luminous didn't fancy the idea of fishing her out of the sink water again.

He carried the two bowls into the kitchen, leaving Lania to play with Penny for a while. The man sat down both bowls at the sink and began to run the water. Luminous flinched slightly; it seemed like there was another presence, but his mind felt so CLOUDED that he was barely threatened. Who could threaten him and Lania here?

The kitchen door slammed shut.

Behind it stood another man. He wore clothes very similar to Luminous. In fact, he seemed to be the same as Luminous in appearance…besides everything being inverted. His hair was a dark black color with blood red tips to match his eerie eyes. He adorned the uniform in the town of Serenity, but the outfit was tarnished black. In his fingers, he flipped a coin. One side was pure black, and the other was bright white. Standing a healthy distance away from the inverted man was a small child with brown hair. He had a red coat, and seemed extremely uncomfortable with the situation.

"My, my. This is awfully suburban, isn't it?" The inverted man spoke, wearing a broad grin. "I suppose I should have pegged you for the housewife type. After all, how could I not peg the personality of myself?"

"Who are you." Luminous gritted his teeth. The man laughed.

"My name is Eclipse. I'm your darker half. You don't remember me? I'm hurt, Luminous, I really am." Eclipse snickered. "I hear you and your little friends have been up to some nonsense lately. Something about being trapped in dreams?"

"…Go away." Luminous said abruptly.

"Why? Are you SCARED of me?" Eclipse clicked his tongue disapprovingly. The brunette child's eyes darted back and forth between the two men fearfully. "You really wound me, there. How could you not remember me, Luminous? I am you. Whether you like it or not."

"That's nonsense." Luminous pushed back his dark half to fling open the door. Eclipse smiled wryly and closed his eyes. Evan looked questioningly at the dark half and the man just shook his head with a smirk. "Lania, I need you to go to your room while I handle someth….Lania? Where are you?"

Eclipse sauntered into the living room. Luminous was running about, calling up the stairs and looking under the table. Finally, his eyes shot up to his darker half. Eclipse shrugged slightly and chuckled when Luminous grabbed him by the collar and shoved him up against the wall. The dark half's smile simply widened, especially as Luminous's left eye began to change to a light red color. Evan shrank towards the door but found it was gone; he would have to watch how this played out.

"Look around at you, Luminous." Eclipse snagged the man by the chin and squeezed his face tightly. The white haired man grimaced slightly. "Look at it. What do you see, fool? You look at this pretty little wonderland of yours; how quaint, how pretty! A nice little happy home. Isn't it just PERFECT?"

"I—"

"Isn't your little life with little Lania in your little house PERFECT?" Eclipse grinned sadistically. "Perfection is a lie, my little lamb. A fantasy. You, as a person, can manipulate your fantasy. It's a dream, after all, suited to what YOU want."

"What are you going on about?" Luminous spat. "Bring Lania back, you sick freak. She's done nothing to you."

"…Look at those pretty curtains, Luminous." Eclipse roughly shifted his hand to force the white haired man to look at the green curtains. Eclipse closed his eyes; the curtains distorted and turned a charred black color. Small red orbs began to leak from them, scattering around the floor and rolling everywhere. They were fragile; when they hit against the furniture too hard, the thin membrane broke and the pale red liquid spilt on the floor. Seconds later, the floor opened up and the table and curtains both fell into the gaping black hole.

"W-what…" Luminous' eyes were wide in confusion. He knew there was magic in this world, but he had only seen one man who was capable of shifting time and space itself. It had once been considered impossible but…that man had done his best to defy all the rules of magic and all that had been laid down by prior research.

Luminous' eyes quickly clouded over as his entire body went limp.

_The Black Mage…_

Thoughts were flooding into his mind now. Eclipse watched in amusement and didn't bother to step away when the hole in the floor expanded outwards and began to eat the entire room. Evan paled; as he looked about, he could see that they were slipping back into Eclipse's dream world. The tall, charred, and leafless trees were reappearing and the blood red sky broke apart the wide and fresh canopy of Ellin Forest. The boy snapped his gaze back to the two men; Eclipse was laughing, holding Luminous up by the neck.

"Did you really think that there was a peaceful world you could escape to? You really thought you could find peace in your own mind?!" Eclipse cackled. Evan put out a hand to stop the man but quelled his pity and regret. It…had to be done, it really did. "You thought you could find peace in the one most chaotic region of your life? This place inside your mind is the twisted and deluded daydream of a madman. Your false reality is crushed against mine; it was bound to be destroyed eventually. I don't like you, Luminous, but I know you aren't this fucking stupid. I know you can see through spells like this!"

Eclipse's fingers were tightening on Luminous' neck and the man clawed desperately at them. He seemed both furious and in agony. Evan called out nervously to Eclipse. "Eclipse, you aren't supposed to KILL him!"

"Shut up." Eclipse hissed. Evan flinched. "You wanted my help, you get my help. But I give my help like I want. We do this MY way, UNDERSTAND?"

"You son of a bi—" Luminous choked out. Eclipse sent a sneer to the man.

"You call me such a name? You think I'M the son of a bitch here? Who is the child hiding in their little fantasy world, hampering both themselves and the people around them? You hamper even me." Eclipse growled. "I don't allow myself to be hampered, Luminous. I can't control that you are the dominant personality but I refuse to be TRAPPED in this dream world! I refuse to let YOU trap ME like this!"

"Shut the hell UP!" Luminous screamed, pulling his fist back and punching his dark half in the face. Eclipse fell back, stunned, as blood leaked from his lip. Then he grinned sadistically, leaping forward to push the white haired man down and land a punch on his face. Luminous grabbed a chunk of black hair in his hand and pulled hard; Eclipse ran his nails across his other half's neck. It left small slits across the snow white skin. Luminous finally kicked the other man in the stomach, sending him flying into the tree behind him.

"You're coming with me whether you like it or not, Luminous." Eclipse said, wiping blood off his cheek. "Even if I have to drag you out of here kicking and scream, I will make sure that I am not trapped in your selfish little wonderland."

"MY selfish little wonderland?! You son of a bitch!" Luminous finally screamed. "Look at what YOU'VE created! This burned, wrecked little hellhole where everyone besides you is DEAD! You call my illusion horrible and yet you want to live in a world like this?! YOU have no right to say ANYTHING about the way I think; I want a world with peace and time with Lania! You want…you want THIS!"

"Isn't that just so precious." Eclipse grinned. Luminous stepped back slightly. "HIS dream is better than mine. HIS dream is less selfish. You really think that? If you really think that, you must be stupider than I thought. No, here's the thing, PRECIOUS. My dream here? Straightforward, clear and recognizing of the suffering it would cause. You? A lie. YOU created a world where everything is happy. A world where you can sit back and ignore how the world outside of your dream is. Oh, the FEARLESS Hero will stay in his dreams whilst the real world burns down around him. But it's okay, right? Because your world is a happy world. YOUR world is a cute little wonderland. And that makes it all okay."

"At least I don't want to watch the world burn."

"No. You don't. You want to sit down and turn a blind eye to the fire." Eclipse said smugly. "Heeee….I'm sure the child would tell you that this is because of some special part of the spell cast by Arkarium. That you aren't thinking clearly. But you know what, you little fucker? I think you're thinking perfectly clear. I think you WANT to think you aren't thinking clearly, to give yourself some free card. Because what you WANT is back in Ellinia but you can't HAVE it. Because guess what, Luminous…?"

"…What…?" Luminous said against his will. Eclipse drew closer, wearing a predatory expression. He put his mouth next to Luminous ear and bit the lobe hard. The white haired man shivered and Evan's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. Kairos climbed up his face and hid his eyes; certainly not appropriate behavior for a child to see.

"…there was always a bitter, selfish side of you." Eclipse said smugly, moving down the pale neck to place another feral bite. It drew blood that leaked down onto the crisp white outfit, quickly lapped up. "That magic given to you by the Black Mage…that just awoke it. Because no matter how much you want to put yourself on a pure pedestal given to you by those freaks at Serenity…it doesn't change that you really are just a human being. Just as selfish, just as crude. You just hide it under that little veil of purity."

"…What the hell do you want from me, you sick fuck." Luminous hissed. "I know that you're there, okay? So why don't yo—"

"Stupid, stupid, stupid. You think I want to stay here?" Eclipse growled, pushing his nose against his lighter half's. "No. And I won't stay here. And I won't let you stay here either because without YOU, I can't leave. So you better get your ass in gear. If I have to kick your ass again, I swear to God I will."

"Why should I believe you?" Luminous spat.

"What, was tearing your floor up and making you come to this world not enough?" Eclipse laughed. "What do you want me to do, revive the dead? Turn the sky blue again? Face it, you're lying to yourself. And I know your little wannabe pure image can't take such actions. Lying is a cruel thing to do, you know—if you stay here forever, the real Lania won't have the only adult presence she ever had. Is your fake world better than your real one? Is it really so wonderful?"

"I…well, I…"

"Answer the fucking question, Luminous. My patience is wearing very thin." Eclipse growled. Luminous looked as his hands, then pushed Eclipse's head away. He drew the other's hands up with his own, squeezing so hard that it left the skin looking white and injured. Eclipse ignored the pain, grinned arrogantly in victory.

"What are they doing there? Why are they holding hands?" Evan asked Kairos, moving the small woman out of his eyesight. She smiled sadly.

"Bringing the two souls back into one." Kairos whispered. Evan blinked; the whole dream seemed to be turning into a dreary gray. "One cannot return to reality without the other. If Luminous were to return without Eclipse, he wouldn't be able to function. Eclipse was born of Luminous' magic and his personality; his darker half absorbed parts of his soul. He can't function without both sides of his soul."

"So there's no way to squash Eclipse out, huh…" Evan mused. Kairos shook her head in disappointment.

"No way at all." She looked up as the dreary gray began to turn to nothingness; the tiny woman tugged urgently on Evan's sleeve. "Come on now, child. We must go back to the real world. There is only one task left."


	15. Shroud

Chapter Fifteen

Shroud

"…I'm sorry." Evan muttered. Luminous didn't say anything. The man just stared wordlessly across the darken skies; both could still see the Aurora Borealis glimmering in the sky. Luminous had been utterly quiet since his return to the real world, making sure to face away from his fellow Heroes. Evan glanced over at Mercedes and Aran worriedly. They had been just as concerned with this as Evan had; Luminous was a quiet person, yes, but they didn't want it to be for grudge reasons.

"It's my own fault." Luminous finally spoke up.

"What?"

"There's no reason. No need for you to apologize." Luminous muttered, getting to his feet. "I don't particularly like you because of it, but I don't have to. You did nothing wrong—hell, you're the only one who didn't get dragged into these little false realities."

"But I—"

"You don't need to apologize. I was running from my problems." Luminous said clearly. Evan shivered; with a little bit of imagination, he could almost see Eclipse in the man's gleaming red eye. "You did the right thing. And you need to calm down, because you're about to get your work cut out for you anyways."

"Excuse me?"

Luminous smiled bitterly. "It's Phantom next, isn't it."

"Y-yes…" Evan said nervously.

"Then you have much more important things to worry about than someone being irate at you." Luminous informed the boy.

"I…I think people have said that before." Evan murmured slightly. Behind him, Mercedes and Aran exchanged trouble glances. "I…when I was in another dream, I think that…uh, well, it sounds crazy, but Freud kind of seemed to have no faith in getting Phantom away from a dream world…"

"Freud?" Mercedes interrupted. "What are you talking about?"

"He's there in our memories." Aran replied for Evan. "He was in my dream as well, helping Evan."

"He said it was a subconscious fragment of himself—a shadow. I asked him about Luminous and Phantom in Mercedes' dream, because I had to deal with them next." Evan explained. The three other Heroes watched him intently. "He said he couldn't manifest in Luminous' dream and I kind of figured out why. It was too strong. And Phantom…I asked him about Phantom. He just kind of gave a bitter, cryptic reply.'

"Freud was an intelligent man." Mercedes spoke up. "He knows what he's talking about. Phantom is a strong minded individual—he didn't have an easy life, so his dream would be based on a lifetime of built up wants that couldn't be gained through stolen gold. Literally 25 years of built up want and need. But really, we know what will be behind that door."

"Aria." Evan answered immediately. Mercedes nodded somberly.

"Exactly. And you've seen how he acts; Phantom literally circulates his life around his existence and lack thereof." Mercedes explains. "Aria will be behind there—but with that much dedication to one person, I can't guarantee what Phantom will throw at you."

"I can take it." Evan said bravely.

"Don't be arrogant." Luminous snapped. The brunette cringed a bit; the other mage had never been the forgiving type. "I'm stunned you even managed to bring me back. Would you like to share with everyone how hard that was?"

"…Really hard." Evan admitted. "Really scary, too."

"Well, picture this. The intensity of Phantom's dream will be like mine, except around a hundred times worse." Luminous replied. Evan's eyes widened drastically. "It sounds ridiculous, I'm sure, but Phantom is a bit of a special individual. The people have been removed from the scene but you can probably tell that he has a habit of picking a person and developing an extremely clingy need for them. So much so that it caused him to drop his entire career and infamy just for that one person—he dropped everything about himself for Empress Aria.

"I think we all know that he would have easily died for that woman, or any of the very few people he has managed to get attached to in his lifetime." Luminous continued. Evan's confidence was shrinking by the moment. "I'm going to be honest with you, Evan. I'm impressed that you managed to confront Eclipse and drag me out. I'm impressed you managed to overcome Mercedes' love for her people. I'm impressed that you managed to drag Aran out despite it returning what she wanted so desperately. But all the impressment in the world can't give me confidence in ANYONE trying to rip Phantom away from his perfect dream."

"I-is it really that bad…?" Evan whispered. Mercedes was glaring viciously at Luminous while Aran nodded slowly. Finally, the elfin woman sighed in defeat.

"It will be. I'm not sure how he could possibly be quelled." Mercedes replied. He tone was bitter and depressed. "Most of us don't know Phantom that well. I wouldn't want to dive into his mind, for certain. But…I just…"

"I have to TRY, don't I…?" Evan said. Mercedes glanced over to Rhinne and the goddess hesitantly nodded. Evan looked down but stepped forward out of the elf's grasp. She went to tug the boy back but Aran snagged her wrist, pulling her back roughly. "Yeah…I figured as much. Rhinne, could you open the door?"

"Of course." The goddess bowed her head slightly, turning around to tug at the door. Evan walked forward to look through; it was like looking into an eternal endless mist. He couldn't see a thing; it just seemed like complete confusion. Hesitantly, he reached out his hand and brushed it into the dream.

Then he screamed, jumping back to fall on the Temple's cold marble floors. Aran rushed over to pick the boy to his feet. She snatched his hand and inspected it; the glove had been burned through and the skin had been turned an aching red. Mir hurried over as Aran held out the boy's hand; the dragon blew a swirl of blue healing mist across it. The welt began to die down, as did the pain.

"W-what was that?!" Evan said in panic. Rhinne looked fearfully to the door, clutching at her hourglass. "It hurt me! The door attacked me! Why did the door attack me?!"

"Rhinne, really, I don't mean to be rude but this is ridiculous." Mercedes snapped before the goddess could answer. "This is an actual wound! The door actually burned him. What in the hell could be inside? What if he dies?!"

"He won't die." Rhinne said softly.

"And you know this how?" Luminous asked flippantly.

"…You can't die in a place you can't go to." Rhinne replied morbidly. The Heroes exchanged confused glances. "Don't you realize it…?"

"…No…?" Evan said hesitantly.

"Yes." Luminous interrupted with a groan. "Evan can't get in because the dream is far too strong."

"WHAT?!" The boy shouted. "You can't be serious! I mean, I know YOU couldn't see me at first, but—"

"I couldn't see you?"

"N-no, the dream was too strong…"

"It appears, then, that this is an even worse form of that." Luminous replied. "My dream was so strong that it literally blocked you from sight and mind. PHANTOM'S dream is so obscenely powerful that it completely blocks you from existing within it."

"W-what…?" Mercedes stuttered.

"He can't go in." Luminous said simply. "The dream won't let him. It REJECTS him. I don't think that any of us could get in, not even that little presence free creature hiding in Evan's shirt."

Kairos twitched inside Evan's jacket and peered out the side. Luminous couldn't see her, but his magic had allowed him to detect her. She wondered briefly if he had detected the little woman in his dream and had chosen to ignore her. Luminous certainly didn't seem to be paying her any mind now. She sighed softly; she didn't really matter here anymore, so she decided that she may as well sleep until she disappeared.

"So literally nothing can penetrate Phantom's dream world." Aran reiterated. "Okay, we've got that decided. If HE can't go into Phantom's dream, what are we going to do? It's not like one of us can go in. It would surely just jeopardize all of Evan's hard work thus far. So tell me, Rhinne…Luminous…whoever wants to answer me…what do we do?"

_What do we do?_

The question hung eerily over them all; no one knew what to do. Evan certainly didn't. He himself knew very little about Phantom. Certainly not enough to find a backdoor in such a fortress of a mind. Though really, it seemed like they were all at a loss. Even Luminous, who had been the first to figure out the problem, seemed to be unable to come up with a solution. Evan looked through all of them, trying to find a hopeful expression. He found none—just trouble expressions.

"Why don't we get help?"

Evan looked down at his pocket. Kairos had apparently decided to wake up—the question had obviously interested her. But the boy didn't know what to make of her statement. Certainly there wasn't anyone who could help them. The sole reason Evan had managed to get through the previous dreams was because he was too young, and Kairos' only reason was because she such a slight presence.

"Dearest Kairos…what could you mean?" Rhinne said. The goddess sounded highly troubled, as if she feared the little woman's answer. But Kairos just smiled encouragingly; it seemed to calm her creator's nerves a bit. "Please, Kairos. Tell us what you mean."

"We have a multitude of powerful forces within the Temple of Time." Kairos explained. "From monsters to monks, we have creatures of all kinds. Perhaps we can't go about Phantom's dream in the same way that we went about the other three. Perhaps instead of using something that has little presence, we need something that has a large presence—something that has the ability to FORCE itself past the barrier."

"That's…interesting…" Rhinne said hesitantly. "But Evan's too young to do it. He doesn't have the level of power required to force his way into Phantom's utopia. That much has already been shown."

"I'll say." Evan said, sucking on the minor burn on his palm. "So what SHOULD we send in, Kairos?"

"Why don't we send them in?" Kairos said.

"Them…? Wait, do you mean…?" Rhinne said, stunned. Kairos nodded. "Kairos, that person is a very busy individual. They are constantly working to help protect our Temple. Can we really decide to drag such a vital person away from their post?"

"If we don't drag them away…then we can't revive the last Hero." Kairos said somberly. "And the Temple will be less safe without Champions to protect it. Miss Rhinne, we have no other choices but to speak with this power."

"…Very well." Rhinne sighed. "Follow me."


	16. Memories in Sand

Doors to Utopia

Chapter Sixteen

Memories in Sand

The four free Heroes followed Rhinne at a safe distance as she walked down a hall that none of them had been down. It was a cracked, empty hall and it was long out of use. Aran walked in front of the other three with her polearm brandished tightly in her fingers; the Temple of Time, despite being a holy site, was not a particularly monster-free area. All of them knew that and all of them held their weapons up as well. Only Evan did not raise his wand; he simply lay against Mir as the dragon floated down the corridor. His light blue eyes were forlorn as he messed with the sapphire at the center of his weapon.

The boy wasn't happy at all. He really had thought he would be able to do it all on his own. Evan had figured that after something as challenging as LUMINOUS and ECLIPSE…he had figured that there wasn't anything standing in his way. The boy sighed mournfully; he knew it had been a foolish thought. He had done what he could. Peering down the hall, his fear began to overcome his depression and failure.

_What could possibly be down there that could help us?_

The hallway itself certainly gave no answers. No statues were there to represent a presence and only dark green vines grew over the walls. The marble was old and scratched and the floor was falling out in several places. They even all had to climb on Mir once to fly over a gaping chasm in the hallway. Chucks of the wall were also missing, and there was no roof until they were very far down the hall. It seemed like the walkway went forever; Evan couldn't see the end of it.

Finally, a door came into view.

It was a stark contrast of the rest of the hallway. The door was a bright, sparkling, polished pure white and was lined with gold and sapphires. Huge ruby handles stuck out from the rock, curving outwards like talons. Words in various languages were scratched meticulously into the surface. To Evan, the strange words meant nothing to him; just very small scribbles and pictures. But the other three seemed to disagree, studying and reading the text upon the door. Evan figured it must contain languages from their time period.

"Rhinne, what is this place?" He asked nervously.

"It's a special place." She replied, and said no more. Evan scrunched up his nose; well, that wasn't much of an answer. Of course this place was special. It held such a powerful aura. The boy figured immediately that whoever was behind that door was an extremely strong individual. Slowly, he did what none of the other Heroes could bring themselves to do; he reached over, grabbed the ruby talons, and pushed the doors open. It was surprisingly less difficult than he thought it would be; the doors looks enormous and heavy, but actually felt like he was moving nothing.

The room beyond was a pure white color, so bright that it was almost blinding. It seemed like the Heroes had stepped into a room of nothingness until they looked further ahead. In what appeared to be the middle were golden steps that led up to piles of silk. Various strips hung from the ceiling to fall around a perch. On the perch sat a crouched figure whom was looking absentmindedly through an enormous book. Evan squinted his eyes; the figure didn't particularly look too threatening. If anything, they looked to be human in form. Not that he could really tell. Its entire figure was covered in a light blue silk. Even the face was entirely blocked from sight. All Evan could see was one pale hand clutching at the folds to hold them together.

"Who have you brought here, Rhinne?" The voice emanating from the folds of fabric sounded very amused, as if the figure had predicted their arrival. Evan considered this; apparently, this person was extremely powerful. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to assume that there was an ability to see the future present.

_Or maybe we're predictable._ Evan thought, forlorn. _Whoever this is, I bet they knew beforehand that I couldn't handle this._

"Tell the child to wipe that moping expression off his face." The figure spoke clearly, rising to a standing position. Evan flinched a bit. "Being depressed over one's shortcomings never did anyone a lick of good."

"S-sorry!" Evan cried. Aran pulled him back defensively.

"And then he proceeds to apologize to me. Really, child, you just saved close to all of your friends. I don't think you need to be apologizing for anything." The figure replied. Evan's face burned red. "Cute thing, aren't you? If not a bit pathetic…I suppose that's a given, as you're simply a child. So I must ask for the sake of discussion…why are you and your friends here? Rhinne? Would you like to explain?"

"I apologize." Rhinne bowed her head apologetically. "But we need your help."

"Hmm…yes, somehow I had figured that." The fabric slid a bit as the figure sighed, revealing pale facial skin and moving lips. The blue silk was quickly moved back into place, but not before Evan saw a small smile. So the figure wasn't AGGRESSIVE…either that, or Evan was being laughed at.

"W-we have a dilemma, you see. With the Heroes."

"Yes, I had figured that too. All of you are saturated with the stench of a fading spell. Arkarium, if I'm not mistaken." The figure mused. "You three are recovering, and the boy only carries a residual trace of the spell. Wasn't ever cast on him. But let's see…I'm only counting four. Last time I checked, there were five of you."

"T-there are." Evan stepped forward, batting Aran's hand off his shoulder. "Something terrible has happened. I've been going in to retrieve all my friends from the spell Arkarium cast. He put them in dream-lands but I got them out successfully. B-but the last one, Phantom's dream, won't let me in. At all. It actually physically hurt me to get near the door."

"…Ah yes, I can see how that would be a problem. From what my research tells me, he was a rather finicky one with a troubling life." The figure said quietly. One white hand, fingers long and thin, emerged from the folds of silk and drifted over the yellowed pages of the book to flip through a few pages. "Would you like to see, my boy?"

"H-huh? Well, will it help me get into his dream to know?"

"Of course it won't. You aren't powerful enough, child, and you know that. I just think you should know exactly WHY Phantom's dream is so powerful." A laugh emitted from within the silk, but the hand still gestured Evan forward. He hesitantly walked up the steps to sit by the figure. From this close up he could see that some of the fabric hugged at the body; it was very slim, but the entire figure was still almost entirely undeterminable. With a deep breath, the boy nodded.

"So, what is it you'll show?" Evan asked. His voice came out a lot less brave than he had hoped for, which just cause the figure to give a sharp chuckle as a finger pressed against the book.

"Look at it."

Evan pressed his hands against the book next to the tapered and thin fingers. The hand was a lot larger than his own, but not by much…Evan shook his head. He really need to stop trying to figure out what this person was supposed to be. It wasn't the point of being here. It was easy to stop thinking about it, really; the book was too distracting. It was turning into visuals as all the letters and pictures ran together to create what appeared to be some sort of window into the past.

Evan saw a child.

A small child, a child much younger than even himself. Perhaps about five years old. He had blonde hair that was speckled with dirt and sand, wearing a white tank top that was too large and brown shorts that were too small. No shoes adorned the scratched feet; it was obvious that this boy was not very wealthy. And the child was wailing as thick tears poured from bright purple eyes.

"Phantom…?" Evan whispered incredulously. The figure nodded.

"Probably not what you'd expect, child."

"N-not at all…"

"He grew up in Ariant, and grew up very poor. You may or may not have been to Ariant but you probably know that Ariant has a very hierarchical society based on acclamation of wealth. Ariant is the last place you'd want to be poor because if you're poor in Ariant, you'll likely end up as a slave." The figure explained. "And no one wants to be a slave. People will sacrifice anything to not be slaves."

"Why is he crying?" Evan asked uneasily.

"Hmm…I wonder." The fingers traced away from the window. The child's sobs were subsiding but not by much. Evan peered in to watch; he seemed to be sitting in front of a mud-stone house that looked to be on the brink of collapse. Nothing was inside the house besides a woman. She was packing up a bag and she looked utterly unhappy. The woman strode out the door as she put on a headband.

The child at her feet reached out to her. "I'm hungry."

"That's not my problem." The woman said. He voice was sordid and she sounded like she had completely given up.

"Where are you going?"

"Away."

"Can I come?"

"No." She snapped, shaking his hand off her wrist. The blonde child looked as if he would cry again. "No. You can't come. I don't have enough time or money to deal with a child. I will not sit here and be a slave for the rest of my life. Not to the Queen, and not to a child. Don't follow me, boy. I won't be as nice if you do. Just…stay here."

She turned with a huff, slinging her bag over her shoulder. The blonde child had gotten to his feet to stare at her disappearing form. Then he collapsed to sob some more. Evan watched in morbid fascination. Was that Phantom's mother? She was a fairly awful woman, he had to say. The young dragon master had never seen a mother act like that to their child before.

"The people of Ariant tended to be desperate then, even more desperate than they are now." The figure ran a hand across the image, making it disappear. "It's a thing that drives people into madness, enough to abandon and scorn their own blood children. He was later picked up by a gypsy troup, and encountered much misfortune in his life. Gypsies are not the most popular of folk so it of course bred more resent towards his person. He simply eventually accepted that resent, and picked specific people to cling onto. The first was his mentor figure Raven, and the second…"

"Empress Aria..."

"…Indeed, Empress Aria." The figure whisked his hands across the book again, to a scene of Phantom laying against Aria's lap with his eyes closed. She was whispering softly to him; Evan couldn't hear a word, but he figured it was private. "He loved that woman like nothing else. She was one of the three people he ever truly trusted."

"Who was the third?"

"Oh, a friend of his. You probably know him already." The figure said absentmindedly. "After all, you've seen him in your little dream exploits, haven't you?"

"Freud?"

"Mm-hmm. A very close friend who trusted him unconditionally, without expecting anything in return other than his honest efforts." The figure ran a hand across the page to show an image of the long dead predecessor. Evan's hands immediately drifted over to the face. "The other, the woman he loved so dearly who would listen to him and not judge him and hold pure interest in him instead of fear. And the mentor that fulfilled the long past parent, treating him as a child and as a student."

"Wow…only three, huh…" Evan mused. He couldn't even count how many people he trusted; in fact, he kind of thought he himself trusted TOO MANY people. Phantom had only trusted and cherished three people in his entire life.

"And all of them died." The figure continued. Evan jolted up; yes, the figure was right…it was rather depressing, now that the boy thought about it. "In a world where your only loved ones have become long past dead…it's very hard to fight one's design to immerse within a dream that tells you that none of those deaths happened. That everyone is fine, and everyone who ever treasured you will always be there. Do you understand?"

"I…I do…" Evan said miserably. He realized that he had thought far too much of himself; his naïve innocence was in no way a match for the amount of desire Phantom felt for his special people to come back. Evan couldn't even COMPREHEND that level of desire; he had never lost so much.

_No wonder I couldn't get in. I couldn't even begin to fathom the depth of the issue._ Evan thought morosely. A thin hand ran through his chestnut brown hair and he realized he was crying.

"Why did you tell me this?" Evan mumbled through his tears. They slipped into his mouth, the salty taste invading his senses. "I-it's private, I guess…and I don't HAVE to understand…I only have to make sure Phantom gets out."

"I think someone should know." The figure said comfortingly. "Right now, Phantom has no real support, no one who knows. So I think you need to take that into account—I think you should know more about the people you are around. You'll have to learn some day and I think today is the day. You'll fulfilled your duty. I'll be taking over from here on out, if you don't mind."

"Y-you'll help Phantom?" Evan sniffed.

"I suppose it's my responsibility. I don't exist here to refuse the requests of Goddesses and Heroes." The figure laughed. "Yes, boy, I will help your friend. I think only I have the amount of power needed to penetrate the dream world anyhow."  
"Thank you…" Evan looked down to hide his smile. "Thank you so much."


	17. Lady with the Fire Mane

Doors to Utopia

Chapter Seventeen

Lady with the Fire Mane

Empress Aria was a picture of beauty. Her hair, a long silken blonde, cascaded down her slim shoulders and around her ankles. She had bright blue eyes that shined like radiant sapphires. Her dress today was so much simpler than usual—a run of the mill white dress that was perfect in this sunny weather. Aria wore no shoes and her headband was nowhere in sight. It was beautiful, seeing this woman in such a simple setting as opposed to the architecture of Ereve. Which was beautiful, but this lush meadow and elder willow tree was a million times more peaceful.

Phantom contemplated all of this from a laid down position; his head rested comfortably in the Empress's lap. Her small hands ran through his dirty blonde hair and he sighed in contentment; this was perfection. The thief felt like he could stay there all day in complete harmony as he looked back up into Aria's pretty eyes. She smiled brightly with a warm flush on her cheeks. One manicured finger brushed hair out of his eyes.

"Good morning, Phantom." She said gently. He smiled softly, reaching up and holding her hand against his face. Aria chuckled slightly. "You were tossing and turning something awful. Did you have a bad dream?"

"A bad dream…?" Phantom repeated as he stared at the brilliant woman. Aria stared back, seeming confused. "I…I think so, yeah…a really bad one."

"What was it about, darling?" Aria coaxed.

"I…I think you…I think you DIED, Aria." Phantom said, eyes hazing over. Aria put a hand over her mouth in shock. "Someone killed you, I think. A young boy, looked really frail but was very powerful. And I think then I made some allies to stop the people who killed you."

"Who were they?"

"I…hmm. I think they were…" Phantom pondered. "You know, I don't really remember who they were. Only that they were really horrible people that wanted control over the world, and that they killed you to do that. And I can't have that."

Aria laughed. "What a silly dream. Maple is completely at peace right now. All we have to do right now is cut down on some of the more pesky monsters. But right now, our world couldn't possibly be in more of a peaceful state. It's a good time to be a ruler and a good time to be a citizen. Maybe even a good time to be a thief?"

"Do you mean me, your highness?" Phantom goaded. Aria giggled as she looked up to watch the flowers falling from the trees. "I am happy when you are happy. As long as you're with me, I'm pretty sure I'll be the happiest person you can find. No one could possibly make me as happy as you do, you know?"

"Oh, why Phantom!" Aria was flushing, but obediently bent down to place a peck on his lips. "That's awfully sweet. You really have a way with words, you know. I really ought to stop falling for your charms."

"Perhaps he ought to stop falling for yours."

Aria was up in a flash; Phantom rose from her lap to stare incredulously over at the figure in the distance. She was walking forward with swaying hips; her long, elegant strapless black dress dragged through the green grass and she held a cigarette holder in her left hand. Rich, deep red hair tumbled down her back and twirled around her bright red lips. The blonde man froze solid when she came close enough for him to realize that she had no eyes.

"Who are you?! Leave this island immediately!" Aria shouted in panic. Phantom moved in front of the Empress, cane brandished aggressively in front of himself. The redheaded woman stopped for a second, then her lips split into a chuckle as she pushed the weapon out of his hands. He was surprised how easily he relinquished it. But it was hard to not just stare at this surreal creature.

"Relax, my dear." She said cheerfully as she picked her cigarette out of its holder. "I just am here to destroy this place, that's all."

"Destroy this place?! How could you-!" Aria screeched, but was interrupted when the woman flicked the cigarette against Aria's white dress. Her entire form immediately lit up in a hellish fire. Phantom made forward to stop the horrific, sudden death, but he stopped as Aria's face began to transform; her lips split across her face and long fangs. But no matter how she changed her body, her struggles were for naught; soon, her ashes lay neatly on the ground. They ran clean through Phantom's bare hands when he grasped at them.

With a growl he spun around to face the redhead woman. Phantom froze when he realized that he was staring at an odd sight; the entire scene had disappeared, replaced with a circular hallway. All the walls were covered with rich, dark red curtains. Phantom paused, looking at the two doors; both of them were huge, and curved at the top. Each had a stained glass design on the circle in the middle; the left door had what appeared to be the Skyia, and the right door had a stylized rose. Between the two was a black end table where the redheaded woman sat smoking her cigarette.

Phantom started towards the woman in a rage but she held up her thin hand. "Stop right there, Phantom. Don't be a fool."  
"You killed Aria!" He screamed, smashing a vase off of another endtable. They seemed to circle around the whole room; when he knocked the table off, it immediately reformed. Phantom paid it no mind. "You killed her! You killed Aria…"

"I can't kill something that isn't there." The woman said simply, taking a huff off her cigarette. She slid off the end table and began to circle the blonde as if inspecting him. "You are not a stupid man, Phantom. You are simply a stubborn one. I think anyone could tell that. And I must say that your mind is a powerful one. I have accumulated a lot of power in my time at the Temple, and I must say that you almost managed to keep me out. But I really am too strong for you…unfortunately, Phantom, you always have an emotional weakspot. Luckily for myself, several weakspots."

"Why are you here?!" Phantom spat. "Why did you kill Aria?!"

"How many times must I tell you, dear? I didn't kill Aria. Someone else killed Aria." The redhead woman snorted. Phantom bristled. "I may as well be blunt with you, Phantom, since there's no point dancing around the bush on this one. You currently are living a gigantic lie. A dream where what you think is fake is real, and what you think is real is fake. Remember that dream you were speaking of, where Aria was killed by a frail boy?"

"Yes…"

"Look into your head, dear." The redhead woman smacked him on the head with her cigarette holder. "And look through this door."

She kicked open the door on the left that had been emblazoned with the Skyia. Phantom looked in and his eyes widened; beyond it, he could see a meadow and a tree. Under it sat him and Aria…he couldn't believe it. He was watching himself. The redhead woman laid manicured fingers on his shoulders to drag him away, kicking the door shut after them. She stood in front of him, one hip slanted forward as her eye free face seemed to stare right into his soul. Phantom was silent for a moment.

"Did I just see myself and Aria?"

"Not quite. You saw yourself an illusion. But it's a beautiful illusion, isn't it?" The woman chuckled derisively as he fingers wrapped around the knob to the second door. "Certainly better than this."

She jerked open the door to show Phantom the cracked and destroyed hallways beyond; he could see the other Heroes. Evan was lying morosely against Mir as he stared out blankly. Aran and Mercedes were sitting some distance from each other. Luminous was nowhere to be seen. They looked unhappy, and the Temple of Time looked bleak. Phantom could see flecks of blood everywhere; this world the redhead had shown him was ugly and unwelcoming. Quickly, she slammed the door shut.

"You know as well as I do, Phantom. Sometimes a lie is easier to take, and this is a delectable lie." She said. Her voice had moved away from its previous smug tone; it now spoke as if they were debating life and death. "But we both know that you can't have a lie and a truth at the same time. So come on, Phantom. Be a man. Choose your path, and stick with it…because the choice you make now is the choice that will forever reflect upon your life and onto the lives of millions back in reality. So what do you choose…fantasy or reality?"

"I…" Phantom looked back to the Skyia door; he could practically feel the warmth radiating from it. He could practically feel Aria all the way from other here. He loved his utopia. There was nothing more he could say, really…or at least, he thought that til he looked at the eyeless woman. "Well, I…I mean, you…"

"I'm not here to make your choice for you, Phantom." She interrupted. "I'm just here to oversee it. I am not here to judge you. I just think you need to know the stakes of what will be lost and what will be gained."

Phantom sat down on the black end table and sighed dramatically, rolling his eyes upward to think. He knew in the back of his head that any normal person would not need time to think…but Phantom didn't think of himself as an average person. He supposed that his need to think about it might make him a bit selfish. Yes, he figured, it did make him very selfish. But he didn't mind; this was a big decision at hand. Finally, he jumped down from the black end table to stand in front of the redhead. Her bright, painted lips curved into a smirk—one that seemed a tad bit nervous.

"Have you made your choice, my dear?" She asked smoothly. "Whatever the choice you make, I can take you back to either reality. I just want you to pick what you want—for I have no right to pick for you."

"You drive a very hard bargain, lady." Phantom began. The redhead snorted and scooted back up onto her previous perch that had been invaded previously by Phantom. "But then again, you always have. Haven't you?"

"…Hmm…" The redhead murmured curiously.

"You've always played a hard game and driven a hard bargain." Phantom smirked, holding his cane out to the woman in front of him. She stared at it; the redhead clearly was not happy with the direction that the conversation was taking. Her lips were curling into a dissatisfied frown, and quickly. "That's just how you've always been, Freud."

The redhead woman was silent for a moment, and then sighed. The black dress erupted outwards and surrounded the figure, finally jettisoning upwards away from the figure. Where the woman with the fire mane had once been standing now stood a slight man in thick silk robes. A rough leather belt secured the middle of the robes; atop said robes was a darker blue vest. Gold lined all parts of his outfit, all accented by a gold headpiece upon strawberry blonde hair. He stared with bright, annoyed blue eyes at the blonde thief.

"I can't fool you, can I."

"You can put up as many tricks as you like but you have to remember you're fighting the master trickster." Phantom goaded. Freud glared irately. "So you…"

"Let's just get this over with, Phantom. I'll already not too happy with the mere fact that I had to fetch you in the first place. It doesn't make me any cheerier to know that you saw through my disguise as well." Freud said sharply. The blonde recoiled a bit. "I restate my previous claim, Phantom. I'm not your mommy so I'm not going to boss you around. Choose between fantasy and reality; make this 'hard bargain' a reality."

"I don't think I…could say no to seeing Aria again, and being with Aria forever." Phantom smiled bitterly. Freud sighed and shook his head, moving towards the Skyia door. "No, wait. Let me finish. It's just…that dream isn't seeing Aria again. It isn't being with Aria. That thing in there…she's just substitute, isn't she."

"…You have people in real life waiting for you, Phantom." Freud said solemnly. "That little child was practically crying on me because he couldn't help you. No one was happy, Phantom. No matter if you quibble with them or not, they are your allies and they can care for you too. Aria isn't here to. They are."

"Are you?" Phantom asked bluntly. Freud's eyes widened then he gave a weak laugh.

"I can't leave the Temple of Time, Phantom. If I do, then I die. It's only the power of the seal that keeps me alive. It sealed time both within the chamber, and within my body. Rhinne was kind enough to give me a place to stay where my abilities could flourish…and only that place." Freud explained. "I can be there for you, of course…but not like they can. You have to move on and fight for something bigger. Look at them. Stay with THEM and move on from THIS."

"I thought you told me you weren't going to tell me what to do." Phantom joked. Freud looked ready to kill him.

"I'm not. I've giving you advice."

"…And it's admittedly good advice." Phantom mused. He stared out the door to the right at the moping Heroes. "…I guess I can't leave them alone. At least not while being fully aware of it. Right?"

"…R…right…" Freud laughed nervously; he wasn't sure how to take Phantom's statement. "So?"

"So I'm going home, I guess." Phantom said wearily. "It…I guess it was nice while it lasted."

Freud smiled warmly.

"Just like a good dream."


	18. Preserved in Time

Doors to Utopia

Chapter Eighteen

Preserved in Time

Phantom awoke blearily, looking up and rubbing sleep out of his eyes. He realized absentmindedly that he was being shaken lightly; as his sight settled, he realized he was staring right up into Freud's face. The man looked ridiculously panicked. Phantom just smiled halfheartedly and tried to turn over; Freud didn't let him, dragging the man upwards with Aran's help. The blonde looked about to see Luminous and Mercedes over by the crumbled remains of the doors they had once been hidden in.

_Doors they had been hidden in._

Phantom awoke with a start and Freud stumbled backwards with a hesitant smile on his face. The blonde looked to the other man in confusion; Freud wasn't this jumpy…allowing his eyesight to settle and his mind to recover, he realized that he was looking at a very confused Evan. The boy looked like he had been through hell and back.

"G'morning, Evan. Can I help you?" Phantom asked cheerfully. Fat tears were gathering the boy's eyes. "Well, hey now. Don't cry. That's not very grown up of you, and there's no reason to cry right now. Did something happen?"

"Y-you don't remember…I guess that's kind of a given." Evan wiped away tears and plastered a weak, trembling smile onto his face. "You were put into a dream. W-where you thought…I mean…well, that person got you out. I guess that's all that matters. Even if I couldn't really help, I guess I'm glad they could…"

"That person? You mean Freud?" Phantom said incredulously. Evan's head snapped up immediately, his eyes wide. Mercedes and Luminous looked over sharply as well. "What? That wasn't all in my head?"

"So that robed thing in the back hallway was FREUD?" Mercedes asked incredulously. Behind her, Rhinne was shifting uncomfortably. "That's impossible. Freud's been dead for over three hundred years, and he's a human being. Not to mention that he was KILLED."

"Say what you want. I saw him."

"In your dream." Mercedes retorted. Phantom shrugged but didn't answer her.

"It was probably just something conjured up by his head. A falsity." Rhinne interrupted quickly, taking both Phantom and Evan by their shoulders and guiding them towards the other three Heroes. Phantom looked suspiciously back to Rhinne but said nothing to the Goddess, allowing himself to be pushed forward.

"I am so happy to see that this is finally over." Rhinne sighed. She did indeed seem mightily content, subtracting the iron grip she currently kept on Phantom and Evan's shoulders. The latter was visibly grimacing at how hard she was squeezing him. "Now that Arkarium's spell is lifted, you may return to fighting the horrible forces of the Blackwings and save our world. Just…don't try to take on more than you all can chew, okay?"  
"I think we should lie low for a little while." Aran piped up. The topic of Freud had been cast aside. "You know, to make him think he won and that we're still in a coma."

"It's a good idea." Luminous agreed. He, Mercedes, and Aran bunched towards the front and followed Rhinne out. Evan made to follow as well, but Phantom grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him backwards with a serious expression. Quickly, the two ducked behind one of the columns.

"What's wrong?" Evan asked uneasily. Phantom still made him a bit nervous even after the boy knew about his past; the older man was an unpredictable person and he would drag others into his exploits if he could.

"Show me the corridor where you found Freud." Phantom said immediately.

"What? Phantom, it wasn't Freud. The person in the silk just cast a spell that made it LOOK like Freud. So he could get into your dream easily." Evan said uncomfortably. Phantom shook his head belligerently. "Phantom, look…"

"Look, Evan, if I'm wrong then we can just leave. If I'm right…" Phantom paused. "…well, if I'm right then you can meet your predecessor, can't you? Don't you want to meet Freud?"

Evan paused. He had only seen this shadow of Freud that existed in the Hero's dreams; he had assumed that Phantom's perspective had been exactly the same. But Evan hadn't been in Phantom's dream. He had no way to verify who was right. Finally, begrudgingly, he nodded and gestured Phantom away from main hallway. Mir noted this and followed after Evan obediently. If the boy thought it was okay, he supposed he might as well too. Besides, Evan needed SOMEONE to watch after him.

The three trekked back down the hallway, flying over the gaping chasms until they reached the white and gold door. Evan glance over to Phantom, who looked positively entranced with its grand scale. The boy sighed; he could swear that Phantom would steal houses if he could. Evan was just surprised that he wasn't trying to pry the ruby handles off…no, he was just standing there with one hand over the door talon.

He looked a tad bit uncomfortable.

"If you're right, you're right. If you're wrong, you're wrong." Evan assured him; he was well sure that that it was the latter but decided to not say anything. Phantom said nothing, just finally gave the ruby talon a tug.

When they entered no one sat at the top of the silk mound.

Both of them walked cautiously forward with their weapons forward; while Phantom would never see Freud as a threat, he knew that the Temple of Time had many wild beasts roaming the hall. It wouldn't a stretch for such a concealed hallway to contain highly dangerous monsters.

"I suppose I should have expected this type of behavior. Neither of you are the type to pay heed to logic and rules." Both Evan and Phantom jumped a bit at the deep, rich voice emanating from around the room. A chuckle followed. "Let's not be ridiculous. Calm your nerves and for goodness' sake, put down those weapons."

"Freud?" Phantom asked. The voice chuckled, and in a flash of purple magic and silk, the figure from earlier appeared. Only one layer of silk rested over his body now and finally, the figure moved the top of the silk to reveal auburn hair and sharp blue eyes. Freud smiled pleasantly at them, beckoning the two forward. Phantom simply smashed into the other, hugging him tightly.

"E…hey! Enough, enough!" Freud said quickly, but he wore a smile. The blonde man released him with a wide grin and glanced over at Evan. The boy still stood at the bottom of the gold stairs, eyes wide with fear and confusion. Freud beckoned the boy up again and Evan hesitantly followed Phantom's steps. He sat next to the two men and stared up at his predecessor in awe. All that power from before had been emitting from the previous dragon master, this slight and pleasant looking man? It was hard to digest.

"Hello, child. I hear I've been visiting you in the dreams of my allies. Or, at least, I saw it." Freud smiled warmly, placing a hand on the boy's cheek. Evan expected the hand to be cold as ice due to his…conditions, but it was warm and welcoming and COMFORTING. Slowly his eyes slid shut and the older man laughed. "Oh dear. Don't fall asleep, now. I believe we might have some things to discuss."  
"Like what?" Evan mumbled. It was so warm and peaceful in here. Freud lightly patted his cheek.

"I'm sure you are curious as to what is going on and why I exist within this realm. Phantom and the rest have probably told you of my, ehmmm…unlucky injuries, I suppose they could be called." Freud told the boy. Evan straightened up and nodded.

"I'm kind of trying to figure this all out. It doesn't make sense." Evan admitted. "And, well…what use am I to the Heroes if you are here?"

"Oh my, I worried you. Such a thought is silly and unnecessary, so you can calm yourself right now." Freud said. "You see, Evan, while I am alive…I cannot leave the Temple of Time. If I do then I will die for real."

"Why?" Evan question. Phantom looked over to the other man cautiously; he didn't seem to like the direction that the conversation was taking. "I mean, you're obviously incredibly powerful. I'm barely starting my training and even I can tell that you have a ridiculously strong aura."

"Well, Evan…" Freud began with a sigh. "You see, before I 'died', I helped cast a spell on the Black Mage with the help of Rhinne. We used the spell to stop time within a certain area, preventing the Black Mage from escaping his prison. Luminous locked the spell and he did so badly. It cursed him and threw the spell off kilter. It turned into a double edged sword. So when it sealed time within a certain area, it also backfired and sealed a bit of time within myself. My body is permanently sealed within that time period."

"W-wow…that's insane…" Evan stuttered.

"Yes. I never expected the spell to do something like that. I had studied it for months beforehand…in the case that we would not be able to kill him. That was our original goal." Freud sounded somber. "But…it couldn't be done, not at that time. I can only hope you all can become powerful enough to stop him when that seal breaks."

"Freud…what happens to YOU when that spell breaks?" Phantom said cautiously. Freud smiled sadly.

"I think you know what happens, Phantom."

Both men went deadly silent. Evan glanced between the two of them; Freud and Phantom looked very serious at the moment, and Freud finally smiled weakly. "I might be able to preserve part of the spell. The part that is keeping me alive. I've been doing research on it. So far it seems hopeless, but I won't stop if it makes you feel better."  
"It would."

Freud sighed. "You were always determined. Well…now that you know I'm alive, I want you both to know that if you need my help then I will gladly give it. Unfortunately, you'll have to come to the Temple if you want to speak with me. I can't leave. The spell is partially tied to this area—Leafre in general, but moreso to the Temple. I don't know the consequences and I'm not keen on checking. I have a feeling you'll all be back anyways, though. I'll lend my help when I can."  
"What about Afrien?" Mir asked. Freud shot a questioning look at the dragon.

"Oh, you're Afrien's—" Evan grabbed Freud's arm frantically and shook his head. Freud paused then continued. "…successor. His successor, yes. Well, the bond between Afrien and I was unfortunately permanently severed. He's trapped outside of the Temple, while I'm trapped up here. Unfortunately, I can't provide a solution for that."

"It's fine. As long as you're here, it should be fine." Phantom interrupted. Evan glanced over at the very happy man. He supposed that after all of that stuff in his childhood…the boy shook his head. He shouldn't think about that. It was rude to dwell on such a thing. All that matter was that Phantom was genuinely smiling, making Evan realize that he'd never seen that before. He stared a bit until Freud rested a hand on his shoulder.

"Evan. If I may speak with you." Freud said quietly. "Although, in a way, I already have. I want to talk to you about Mir, and Afrien, and what you are dealing with—and I want to do this on a regular basis."

"Hmm? What?" Evan said, clearly confused.

"You're young. Thirteen, correct?" Evan nodded. "Mmh. I was about eleven when I started formally training and about fourteen when I went into apprenticeship. I can't actually offer you apprenticeship as much as I'd like to, because it's too inconvenient for you. But if you could come up here once in a while…"

"Yes." Evan said immediately. "Absolutely. Whenever."

Freud laughed. "My, he's a determined child, isn't he!"

"Yeah, he's always had a bit of a stubborn streak. I think we all noticed. Though I guess you'd have to be stubborn to trek through all our dreams." Phantom said. "Sorry about that, by the way…didn't mean to drag you into this and—"

"There's no need for apologies. Just go back to the Heroes and do your job, as I expected you to do from the beginning." Freud interrupted. "I'd like you to go back to the other three—I'm sure they noticed your absence. I'd like to talk to Evan privately for a bit, if you don't mind. We can…catch up…later on, okay?"

"…Alright, but Aran and Mercedes are probably going to want to know where Evan went off to. They're being complete mother hens now that he saved their asses." Phantom remarked. Evan turned bright red. The blonde laughed and got up to exit the door. "But yeah. We'll catch up later. I'll go distract them for a little while. Hurry up, though. There's only so much I can do."

"Of course." Freud replied, absentmindedly waving the man out then turning to Evan and Mir. "So…you two are my successors, correct?"

"Y-yeah…but we aren't very good at it." Evan said, bowing his head. Mir copied him immediately and Freud shook his head.

"I had noticed that. You got led around and played for the fool quite a few times. By the Black Mage's minions, no less." Freud sighed as he watched depression seep into Evan's expression. "Look, child. Under normal circumstances, I would likely scold you but you had no guidance. None at all. Even Athena could not have predicted the fate you were guided to. I just…I want to make sure that fate is executed PROPERLY. Do you understand."

"I understand. I won't…I won't mess up your name or your work, okay…?" Evan said nervously. A warm hand slid through his brown hair.

"Obviously you won't. You have guidance now, and you always meant well." Freud said comfortingly. "No one is perfect, least of all a child. Every child makes mistakes, as does every adult. You simply made a…rather large one. But it has been forgiven by both myself and the people it hurt."

"Did you make mistakes when you were a kid?"

Freud scrunched up his nose. "You don't even want to know, child. You really don't even want to know."

"W-wow…"

"Come back when you can. I am well assured that Phantom will immediately allow you the right to use the Crystal Gardens as transportation. He will know how important this is." Freud explained. Evan nodded eagerly. "It will be quite a long journey, you know."

"It started a long time ago, I think."

"…I think you might be right, child." Freud mused. "And I don't doubt your abilities. From what I've seen, you are a child of powerful will. Trekking through the dreams of your allies is no walk in the park. You even defeated Luminous' darker half in a battle of wits. That takes a lot of gall, Evan. It takes a lot of bravery. Already, even without my help, you've become powerful in the mind. And that is the most important place to start."

_The mind is the most powerful tool that you as a human being can utilize. It contains all secrets, and all dreams, and all conscious thought. It allows you to carve through difficult situations and pave your own path. To become complete one must free their mind and focus on what they can achieve—instead of focusing on the impossible, focus on reality and the people who care so fondly for you._

_ Make reality into your dream come true._

Finato~


	19. BONUS CHAPTER--Hot Sand

**Obvious questions answered here (aka special author's notes): **"What is this here? The story, dear writer, you said it was finished at chapter 18!" Well, yes, I did. However. Back in mid-July, before I had conceptualized the idea for _Doors to Utopia_, I thought up the idea of chp16's 'Phantom's Childhood' story after someone idly pointed out the correlation in behaviors to abused children. I decided to expand it, and finished this story halfway through. I abandoned it because I felt it was 'too intense' for acceptance in most fandoms.

However, when I wrote DtU chp16, I took a chance and decided to use the idea for _Hot Sand_ in that chapter. It was a rousing success, so much so that I even received several pieces of fanart for my fanfiction (crazy stuff, huh?). After receiving these fanarts, I decided that the fandom was ready for the extension and finished up the original _Hot Sand_ story. So this chapter is a more in-depth analysis of chapter 16-a 'chapter bonus', so to say. Considering the obvious content of that specific chapter, I don't think I should have to put up this warning but I will anyways: this chapter bonus contains several mature themes such as child abuse.

That said, please enjoy this bonus chapter-it was, strangely, an odd process to create. (also note that there might be an actual epilogue for DtU eventually, but this bonus chapter will exist in between chp18 and the possible epilogue. No promises.)

**_Hot Sand_**

It was quiet and dark in the small sandstone building. All the windows were covered by thin burgundy sheets; it was far too sunny and hot outside to allow for open windows. A trail of beads hung from the doorway. The house itself had little inside it; two beds, a dining table, and a small storage space tucked into the floor. Clothing littered one corner of the house. A broom lay in the other. And in the corner farthest from the door sat a child.

His knees were curled up against his chest and his bright amethyst eyes studied the room. The vivid color of his eyes was intensified by the dust coating his pale skin; it had accumulated on him from sitting on the hard dirt floor for so long and stuck into the light blonde strands of his hair as well. Though he scanned the room, there really wasn't much for him to look at that he hadn't seen before. Nothing ever really changed in this home—nothing ever really would.

He started a bit when a woman burst through the bead curtain, mumbling to herself. Then the boy just shrunk back into himself quietly. His mother was surely busy; the expression on her face was nothing sort of stressed. After throwing her shawl on the pile of clothing in the corner, the woman directed her eyes at the boy in the corner.

"Why are you sitting there like that?" She asked. The woman sounded annoyed and the child resisted flinching. "Get up. You have things to do."

"…I'm hungry."

The woman signed in exasperation. "Child, I fed you yesterday morning! Must you be this selfish? We are not rich people! I don't have money to waste on giving you some fancy diet. I can barely feed myself."

"But I'm hungry."

"Find some food, then." The woman snorted. "You're a strong, growing boy, aren't you? You're what, eleven? Surely you can get yourself some food. People around here are willing to give you some if you work. But you would rather sit here and whine."

"I'm sorry." He mumbled.

"No you're not." She muttered. "If you were sorry, you would have had the common sense to not ask in the first place."

The boy didn't say anything, just staring morosely towards the window instead. Only slight slivers of gold streamed down through the floor. He thought they looked awfully pretty; like all those pretty gems and medallions that the Queen of Ariant was in possession. The objects harvested through blood labor. The boy almost shook his head but didn't want to draw attention to himself.

"…May I go outside?"

"No."

"But—"

"I said no." She snapped, slamming the pot top shut. The boy sunk back down against the wall in silence. His eyes travelled over to the broom closet; sometimes, when mother was upset, he would hide in there and let her vent. But in cases like this he could only sit and watch her fume as her anger perfumed and soured the air. Something had set her off and her son couldn't tell what it was. The only thing he could do now was look at the floor and hope she didn't call attention to him.

She didn't. She walked over to her bed and collapsed. Several minutes later, the boy rose to his feet and padded over to her bed. He stood next to woman; she was clearly asleep. The child gazed over at the beaded down and slowly, quietly, exited the room. He squinted at the bright rays of sun slamming down on his pale skin. The child was as white as a piece of paper—he had been born that way, and a lifetime inside was not especially helpful to his complexion.

"Hey! Hey!" The pale child whirled around at the sounds of shouts and loud music. Immediately he stepped back; he had heard about these people. These travelers who wandered from town to town, giving their dances and handing out false fortunes. Gypsies, his mother called them. He wasn't supposed to come near them, though his mother certainly never enforced it.

"Are you talking to me?" He questioned. The Gypsy calling out smiled widely and nodded, gesturing the boy come forward. Hesitantly, the child stepped forward to the man. He took the boy's hand and spun him.

"Learn our dance, boy!" He chortled. "You are a pale young thing, obviously a foreigner! You shall attract attention with your shining skin! Copy me, boy! Copy the children."

The child hesitantly looked over to children next to him; they seemed to be doing some sort of simple dance involving a lot of clapping and stepping back and forth. Clumsily, he began to imitate them. The Gypsy man laughed loudly at him and played his instrument louder. Slowly, the pale child began to get the idea of the dance and moved faster, more gracefully.

"You are good at this, boy!" The Gypsy complimented. "What's your name?"

"I don't have a name."

"You…don't have a name?" The man looked utterly confused.

"Nuh uh. I think I did at one point but mum doesn't call me by it. So I can't remember." The boy admitted. The Gypsy man took his cane and shifted the child's face back and forth, smacking him once on the fine blonde hair.

"You look like a ghost, boy. If you have no name, I will give you one. You shall be the Daylight Phantom. With your pale skin and fine hair and weird eyes, you certainly LOOK like a Phantom." The Gypsy chuckled. "I am Raven. Gypsy Lord."

"…Okay." Phantom mumbled. He suddenly was uncomfortable with this conversation; the boy was not often addressed by a name other than child or boy. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he had been addressed by his TRUE name; he knew it actually did start with a P but everything else was a blur. His mouth twitched a bit; he liked the new name. It was mysterious, adult.

"Dance, child! Dance with them!" Raven cried jubilantly. Phantom giggled a bit and joined in a dance with a small dark skinned girl, easily only about four years old. She jumped about clumsily and fell over a few times. She immediately jumped back up with glee on her face and stomped her feet. Phantom began to imitate the girl to amuse her. He and the children stayed there for hours, dancing and playing; by the time the day was out, he was sore but the hat was full of money. The passing people had been intrigued to see the strange, foreign looking figure.

"I have to go now." Phantom mumbled. The children looked like they were going to say something but he took off to his home too quickly. He was excited to have money of his own but he knew his mother would only be angry at how long he disappeared. Phantom knew that his mother didn't much like him being seen; the locals tended to gawk and she retorted to him that he just embarrassed her.

When he burst through the beads, the room was silent. His mother sat on the end of the bed, staring off into space. Slowly, as if offering a sacrifice, Phantom piled the money in front of her. She said nothing, just stared at him. Her expression was harsh and judgmental; it made the blonde shrink back a bit.

"I told you that I didn't want you going outside." She said dangerously. "I don't want you seen, in case you had not noticed."

"I'm sorry…but I got money! Lots of it!"

"How?"

"I danced with the Gypsies!"

"GYPSIES?" She said in horror. "You assisted the filth to get money for this household? I will not use your filthy money, child—throw it out!"

"But I'm hungry—"

"That is of no concern. Throw that filthy money out." She snarled. "You stupid child. Would you like to be as filthy and greedy as those criminals? You would fit in well with them, be their little sideshow. I should sell you to them. Then you could make all the filthy money you like, couldn't you?"

"Mothe—"

"Get out of my face." She snapped. "And throw out your filthy money. If you spend a cent of it, I will know and you will be punished for it. Do you understand?"

"…Yes, mother." He mumbled. The blonde child scurried off into the corner to watch his mother from behind his bangs. She seemed highly unhappy—moreso than usual. The child didn't know what she was doing; she seemed to be stuffing the few raggedy clothes she had into a large burlap sack. The woman threw the bag onto her shoulder and made for the door; immediately, her blonde child latched onto her leg.

"Get off." The woman instructed. Her child buried his face against her leg, fingers tightening on the flimsy cotton. "I said get off, boy."

"But where are you going?" He whispered. She rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Away."

"Can I come?"

"Absolutely not." She snapped irately as she pulled the boy away from her. "I don't have the time or money to deal with a child. I didn't have either of those things to begin with. And I certainly didn't want to provide them to you—I certainly didn't want to be slave to a child. It's bad enough I'm a slave to the Queen."

"But, I—"

"Don't follow me, boy." His mother interrupted. "I won't be as nice if you do. Just stay here…maybe someone will pick you up, though I doubt it. You're too pale to be of any labor use and too stupid to provide intellectual pursuits…all I can do is…"

The woman faltered and her eyes sparked with a very foreign emotion she didn't often showcase. The blonde boy got up, weakly smiling…but the smile faded as his mother shook the expression away from her face and wordlessly turned to the door. She was quickly gone, disappearing into the pitch black night. Her child slowly followed her as far as the doorstep, and then sat down with his head on his knees to hinder his own sobs.

"What's with the tears, little ghost boy?" The blonde's head shot up immediately to catch sight of the gypsy man who had given him money earlier. Rattling along after him was a cheerily painted caravan that stood out brightly against the shining moon. Curiously, the child wiped away tears and followed after the passing caravan with interest in his eyes. Forlornly, for a second, he looked back at his house.

She isn't coming back.

"You aren't looking very happy, Phantom." The gypsy frowned. "Is this your house?"

"I guess." The child replied.

"Where's your mother?"

"She left."

"Left?" Raven asked incredulously. Phantom nodded, almost shyly. "Where to?"

"I dunno. She didn't tell me. She just told me to stay here, and not follow, cuz she didn't want me." Phantom replied. Raven cast a glance back at the people in the caravan. A small woman was stepping down from the creaking car with a curious expression on her face. "What'dya doing?"

"We're leaving town." The woman said. "We are a travelling group, after all. Staying in one place has never been the best of choice for our performance trope."

"We travel the world, little ghost boy." Raven finished, whipping out a card and holding it out to the boy. Flipping it over, he revealed The Hermit. "Are you all alone now? A child can't fend for itself, you know. And you can dance, and you can be taught skills. Impressive skills. The skills of masters."

"What are you saying?" Phantom asked suspiciously. They both laughed.

"You dragged up a cute little Bambinata, husband." The woman giggled. "He is certainly a show. And what fair skin, fair hair! You don't see such a Bambinata walking around in places like Ariant. Or in many places nowadays. If we dress him up he could be quite a dancing Ashti."

Phantom cocked his head to one side. "Stop speaking like that, Gina. You confuse him. We should teach him languages before we speak to him in them."

"If you insist." Gina sighed melodramatically. "But is the Bambinata coming along with us? It doesn't seem like he has much else to do."

"Depends on what the little ghost boy has to say. Well, Phantom?" Raven smiled encouragingly, holding his hand out to the child. Slowly, Phantom reached out and placed his tiny hand within the darker one. Raven grinned and pulled the fair child up next to a group of gypsy children. They immediately claimed onto him excitedly, chattering in various languages that Phantom didn't recognize.

He gazed back at his old home as the caravan rode away into the desert.

And he found he didn't miss it at all.


End file.
